Birthright
by Netaro
Summary: Since the earliest days, ponies have foolishly believed that the natural order would never change. That there would always be magic for them to use. That the princesses would rule the Equestria for all the eternity. They were wrong.
1. Prologue: Birthpains of a New World

_"One pony's magic is another pony's engineering._

_'Supernatural' is a null word"_

_- Robert A. Heinlein_

**Birthright**

**Prologue: Birthpains of a New World**

Days like these were everypony's favorite, for they _falsely_ promised that everything could stay the same, unchanging, until the very end of the world.

But nothing ever stays the same. The order of things that existed since the earliest days was about to change.

The sun, shining high over the horizon, controlled by the primordial magic of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, illuminating all the wonders of Equestria and the world, was the main factor which allowed the ponies to fine-tune nature for all their needs.

Not for long, anyway.

Zephyrus, Boreas, Notos and Eurus, the main winds of the world that moved the air around, were always maintained by the pegasi so as to never ever allow anything bad to happen. There were no unscheduled tornadoes; no dangerous storms could ever endanger the lives of ponies and other creatures that inhabited the area of their influence. Even the rain poured down according to their wishes and whims. The elements of nature were in their absolute control.

Until today.

The land was always tended to by earth ponies. There were places where nature grew wild and unchecked, like the Everfree Forest, but everywhere else, the plants and trees rose up according to the plans of master gardeners and farmers. Food was never scarce, always plentiful.

Tension hung in the air, and only those isolated from the main hubs of civilization could consider themselves blissfully ignorant.

Unicorns were undoubtedly the masters of magic, one of the most fundamental forces of the world. As others worked with their hooves or wings, they did everything by their horns, the ambient magic always there to help them in their endeavors.

No more masters, but slaves.

It was the natural order of all things under the sky. Since ancient times, nothing has changed. The status quo kept the world in perfect balance.

And if there was anypony who knew best about it, about the stability and _stagnation_, it surely was Golden Barley. That old earth pony, in the twilight of his life was a farmer who lived throughout his life on the farm, located somewhere in southern Equestria, right in the middle of a particularly rich field where golden grain grew. His cutie mark reflected his predicament, three ears of wheat, for it was all he ever saw. He loved it though, the pride he felt when the fields were covered with rye, barley and other varieties of wheat he himself had sown was simply incomparable. But his time had almost passed, and now, being too old to take care of the fields, his family did all the job, so his only task now was to overlook the fields and see that everything went okay.

It was a warm, sunny day, with a number of very light cirrostratus clouds covering the sky. Local pegasus ponies took special care of the farm, providing perfect weather for all their needs, because keeping good neighborly relations was good for them. After all, half price for the grain? Who wouldn't go for that!

Nothing ever changed on the farm, there was nothing to watch out for, therefore he was napping on the swinging chair on the porch of their house. Days like these, surrounded by the fields, crop swaying gently in the wind, he felt at peace.

Suddenly, Golden Barley woke up. This rude awakening was caused by an event most peculiar.

The sky turned jet black. The sun disappeared, an all-encompassing shadow veiling everything. It was as if night had suddenly come, but there were no stars up above. A deafening loud roar, like a crack of thunder, was so loud it could be heard even by the deaf and the dead. But it was no thunderstorm. There were no lighting bolts to be seen. The sound seemingly emanated from no fixed source.

"Uhhhmmm, what's that..." Golden Barley spoke slowly as he opened his eyes, all his reflexes slowed down by his age, "is it night already?" As soon as he finished the sentence, he closed his eyes and drifted back to slumber. Thanks to that, he couldn't witness the sky turning back to its normal hue, as the phenomenon lasted for no more than half a minute.

A moment later, he was woken up again, this time by a very audible, wet "THUNK!" near him. Golden Barley's aged eyesight and hearing weren't enough to tell what it was now. And even if they were, it would have been better for him to stay in that blissful ignorance.

Somewhere near him, on the field, there was a shallow crater made by a pegasus pony that had fallen to its demise. It would be impossible to identify the body, as the impact thoroughly obliterated anything that could name the poor soul. All that was left was an undefined mass of various biological tissue, fleshy red with some white bone accents. The surrounding crop was sprayed with blood and other even less pleasant things of organic origin.

Meanwhile, the sky was a battlefield, many pegasi fighting for their lives, struggling to maintain flight, feeling gravity binding them in their last moments. Luckily, some managed to spread their wings in an attempt to somehow glide down to the ground. That violent flight would save their lives, although, to tell the truth, the velocity and acceleration made it almost completely impossible not to break a bone or two, or every single one in the process.

Golden Barley's eyes couldn't tell him what exactly was going on up there, for all he saw was many silhouettes of pegasus ponies 'flying' above his farm.

"Pegasi are flying low," he mumbled, half-asleep, "it's a sign it's going to be a good harvest this year..."

And after stating that old piece of ancestral knowledge, he went to his peaceful nap again, without a care in the world about the many mysterious wet sounds near him, which sounded like something heavy was hitting the ground. Their screams were loud, but not enough to wake him up again.

De facto, except pegasus ponies and terrified eyewitnesses, not many cared about their sudden loss of flight capabilities. There were far more serious problems than that.

Because at that exact moment, in an event that was later named 'the Shift', the ambient magic of the entire world had vanished. The apparently immutable order that existed since the early days was turned upside-down in just one second. The unicorn ponies found themselves weak, their magical abilities diminished. They were still able to use their arcane skills, but without the background magic, all their powers became so weak that levitating a quill became the best they could do. And even that power came with a price.

Pegasi were no longer able to use their innate cloud-walking abilities, as the natural magic that supported them became unavailable. Even though they could still fly, it was nothing compared to that what they could do before, as even their wings became weak.

After the initial stage of confusion, it became painfully clear that the magic simply withered away and wasn't coming back. Sensing weakness, enemies of Equestria attacked. However, it was futile, as even they became powerless. Being accustomed to solving problems by magic, those who tried to conquer Equestria found themselves unable do to anything at all. Enemies from outside were routed out surprisingly easily.

Enemies without... and enemies within. It's unknown what the exact cause was, who started the civil conflict, and over what it was fought, but in an event known as the Birthright war, Equestria was torn apart into two parts.

One of those was Terra, Old Equestrian for "ground", the country governed by the earth ponies, who, left with no help from the unicorns and pegasi, turned all their focus on technology, thinking it was the only option left, as old ways of life were useless now.

And the other was Luna's Domain, a safe haven for unicorns and pegasi, established by Princess Luna in a futile attempt to stop the tides of chaos that ravaged the land. Although it was useless, as the seeds of dissent had already taken root in the hearts of ponies. Earth ponies divided themselves from unicorns and pegasi, each group trying to find their own new ways of life.

As those were the times of chaos, not many accounts survived, but by the end, the ponies got used to the new world. The transition was painful, but they've managed to adapt. The old ways became forgotten, lost to the tides of time.

The borders were established, and unstable peace was brought back to the land. For a moment, it was good.

But nothing ever stays the same.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Author's notes:

One thing that I should say right-off-the-bat: I'm not a native speaker. Although the 1st, 2nd and 3rd has been beta-read by Periphery, there still might be an odd-sounding sentence, almost always a late-moment addition. Therefore, please, if you find anything like that, please tell me!

Okay. Now on to my comments on the story.

So, I've noticed that the previous version was simply _inadequate_. It was boring, couldn't convey anything well, and frankly, it was somewhat chaotic. Thus, a rewrite.

But still, I've got a request: voice you opinion, pretty please? Did you like what you've read today? Or not? Anything wrong? Anything you particularly liked? Disliked? Was it boring? Chaotic? Interesting? So-so? Mediocre? Awesome? Throw-it-in-the-bin-and-let-us-never-speak-of-it-again?

Please, let me know by posting a review, I'd be very, very happy if you'd tell me what you think! Especially (can't stress that word enough) if you have any criticisms: only listening to these can I make the story better. I'm trying to write something that would be good enough to gain some attention, here, there, elsewhere, or maybe on EQD...? I might've set up a bar too high, but it's simply proper to set up a goal for myself, isn't it?

And now, for something completely different: I've read Cereal Velocity's guide to writing fanfiction that he posted on EQD. It was mentioned there that it's generally a bad idea to write a prologue. I, on the other hand, disagree. A good written prologue is a hook that manages to catch reader's attention faster than any first chapter could (of course, there's the question whether I've done that bit right or not here... but that ties to previous paragraph). So, what's your opinion? Do you like prologues? Or not?


	2. Chapter 1: That Stolen Thing

_"What do we know of the world and the universe about us? Our means of receiving impressions are absurdly few, and our notions of surrounding objects infinitely narrow. We see things only as we are constructed to see them, and can gain no idea of their absolute nature."_

_-H.P. Lovecraft_

**Birthright**

**Chapter 1: That Stolen Thing**

_"Next time, if Red Snow ever invites me to such an insane trip, I'll simply ignore her. Why did I sign up, anyway? What was I thinking? Bunch of ponies thinking without any reason that the second Birthright war is going to erupt any time soon. Paranoiacs."_

The day couldn't have been any more beautiful. Even though Everfree Forest wasn't a very welcoming place for anypony, there was something in the air that made the day eerily splendid. The golden rays of afternoon sunlight shone through the semi-dense foliage, each pillar of light sharply contrasting the native darkness of the location. Rather slow wind stirred the unbearably humid atmosphere, making it somewhat less suffocating. The delicate sound of chirping birds was the most unexpected thing there, as letting any odd sound in Everfree was tantamount to setting up a big banner stating proudly "HERE I AM, EAT ME". But the laziness was in the air, clinging to everything possible, and even the most aggressive predators fell prey to it.

_"The whole thing is simply paranoiac! I'm surrounded by paranoiacs! Somepony please help me..."_

Now was a good time to cross the forest. A group of earth ponies jumped at the first sign of the opportunity to get as far away from Manehattan and Canterlot as possible. Anywhere far away would suffice. Their actual target was Appleloosa, but the group was prepared to move even farther into the unknown frontier if anything unexpected would force them to. Reasons were numerous, but the most important was that, with the rising political tensions, it simply wasn't safe there anymore, in Divided Equestria, a broken husk of it's former glory.

_"As soon as us three reach Appleloosa, we'll turn back. Seriously, who would want to re-settle a ghost town that's almost forgotten by now? Considering it's buffalo territory, they're quite openly hostile to us. As pretty much everybody in the world. Except the griffons. Nah, griffons are cool. But buffalos? What the hay? Are these poor ponies supposed to shoot them at sight? Shoot to kill?"_

To ensure the safety of the expedition, made up of about thirty earth ponies, Lanky, a very thin and tall brown-colored earth pony, a rather good scout in his own right, took the lead. With the rest of the group following two kilometers after him, he was the first to notice and relay anything that could make their exodus 'complicated', if not outright lethal. In order to give the rest of the group an all-clear signal, every ten minutes he had to press a button on his headset and say that it was still safe to go.

"Lanky here, another klick clear, go," he relayed through the headset to the rest of the group.  
><em>"I love speaking like that. Yeah, 'klick'... It's like in the movies! Except it's not a movie, and I'm still surrounded by paranoiacs..."<em>

Then, Lanky surveyed the surroundings, and noticed the sun was now rather low on the horizon; the shadows cast by the trees were getting noticeably longer. The temperature started to drop sharply too.

_"Not good,"_he thought to himself as he tapped the call button with his hoof again.

"We won't make it through the forest in one jump, set up the camp two kilometers ahead of you, where I am now," he said, aware of the group's capabilities. It wouldn't be possible for one pony to travel through the route they'd chosen in relatively short time anyway, and such a large group would be even slower by definition.

Instantaneously, he heard a response on the other side of the comm.

"OK, we will. Go scout the area, try to find some potable water or edible food."

It was somewhat naïve for them to say that, because Everfree wasn't a friendly place anyway, and anypony who knew anything about geography and biology would know already that there was almost nothing edible or drinkable in that forest. It was a no-pony zone, absolutely everything there was hostile to all pony-based life.

However, because listening to those who took care of the whole expedition was always a good idea, Lanky decided to take a stroll around the place, not really hoping to find anything else than trees, murderous predators, more trees, poisonous fungi, and even more trees. Having nothing else to do, he turned left and ventured further into the forest. Everything was as he expected. Trees, trees, trees, snake that almost constricted him, trees, old abandoned cottage covered in vines, trees, trees...?

_"What the hay?"_

Now, that was interesting. As soon as his mind registered that there was an old cottage, he galloped there—wary of the environment, of course—very curious about that thing. Being fully aware how hard it already was to traverse through the Everfree, let alone inhabit that hayhole, the knowledge that somebody managed to eke out a living so deep in the forest was somewhat... exciting to Lanky. He remembered the stories told by the zebras back in Manehattan that one of their ancestors lived there, in that forest, but even they didn't remember his or her name as even that bit of knowledge was lost to time.

He carefully examined the exterior of the cottage. It was outright impossible to tell how old it was. It might have been made not-so-long-ago, or it might have been much, much older than recorded history. Lanky guessed that the place could've been a clearing at one time, judging by that the trees there weren't as tall as in the rest of the forest. But now, the lush vegetation had overgrown the place, and to add insult to injury, there was a tree growing through the dwelling's entrance. With the only easily available entrance blocked, Lanky walked around, trying to find out if he could find or make another entrance. There was a section of the wall visibly rotten on the opposite side, so he took a deep breath and bucked hard. Although he was rather physically weak, the wooden logs gave no resistance, and thus, there was now a big, gaping hole in the wall. Luckily, the rest of the structure didn't collapse, and it looked safe and stable enough to enter.

It was rather dark inside, the outside foliage and grimy windows not letting too much sunlight inside, but his headset had a built-in torchlight function, a feature he found very useful in his job. It drained the battery quickly, but he thought there should be enough juice in that to let him explore the place for as long as he wished. At first glance there was nothing interesting inside anyway. A bed with what could've been considered a mattress in ancient history, that had almost rotten away into nothingness. A broken, empty cupboard, pieces of ceramic scattered inside. A brick fireplace. And seemingly empty desk. Everything was covered in a thick layer of dust.

Lanky knew that examining the fireplace could tell him if there was anypony recently, so he pointed the light there. At first glance, he saw a small ash-heap and some half-burned logs. Upon closer inspection, the logs were rotted, the ash had long since solidified from the moisture, and, if creepy ghost stories were to be believed, it was absolutely unlikely anypony was ever burned there due to some stupid superstitions. It was clear that this place was thoroughly forgotten by time. Somewhat disappointed, Lanky surveyed the rest of the place.

At second glance, it was clear that the decrepit dwelling held nothing of interest inside. Whatever valuables had once been there, they must've been stolen or had simply broken down long ago. For all the right reasons, it was interesting, but there was no point in sitting there for longer than Lanky had to. It was high time to leave and get back to the group.

But, when he turned himself around to face the hole he had made earlier, the beam of light cast by the headset swept the room, and when it shone upon the wooden desk, a very strong reflection blinded him for a second. It was then when he noticed that there was something there, covered by dust and mold so thick that Lanky began coughing violently the moment he came closer. Despite that, while he somehow managed to blow the dust off without suffocating himself in the process, the air was heavy with dirt and dust particles irritating his throat and lungs. Until it all settled down, Lanky's respiratory system momentarily felt as if it was on fire.

But it had cleaned the place anyway. It was still dirty, but at least he could tell what the items were.

An old book, pages visibly damp with a little hint of mold, and a pendant. The jewelry caught Lanky's attention immediately. Quite a strange design, a golden chain and a very big crystal encased in a thin golden frame. The gemstone was very dirty, and the light from his headset falsified the colors further, so he couldn't tell what kind of crystal it was exactly. Neither could he describe the cut, as Lanky knew absolutely nothing about jewelry, and all he could say was that the crystal had an irregular but symmetrical cut.

_"Hmmm... I don't think anypony will miss that... Frankly, the owner of that place would be long dead today... It wouldn't be considered theft, I think,"_Lanky thought to himself, waging if he could take the pendant without any remorse, or if his moral values would take a hit if he did that.

It was beautiful, anyway, and ultimately Lanky decided to take it into his possession. Nopony would miss it. And anyway, ignoring any potential monetary value, if he were ever to find a mare of his dreams, such a beautiful piece of jewelry could provide to be a very convenient gift. Pluses outweighed the minuses, therefore he extended his forehoof to take it.

The very instant his hoof touched the crystal, a powerful surge of negative emotions hit his mind, overwhelming his sanity and shutting down all higher cognitive functions. He heard screams in his mind, a multitude of voices yelling unisono in terrible, unbearable pain. All will to continue living, even the most basic biological prerogatives that told him to live were overridden by one singular thought. It was ugly, everything was ugly, the world was hopeless and bleak, there was no escape but death. Something in his head, a totally unknown, feminine voice was telling him, _screaming at him_ to end it all _now, to die, to kill himself._ In an illogical attempt to end his life right now, Lanky threw himself at the floor, head banging at the wooden floor as hard as his muscles allowed, trying in vain to smash his skull against the hard surface. He didn't even register the pain, as every sensory feeling was ignored.

And without any warning, the feeling vanished as mysteriously and suddenly as it appeared. Lanky was, obviously, confused. A second ago, the sudden depression had almost made him do the last thing in his life, and now, he was back to his normal self.

_"What the hay was that!"_

He couldn't even describe what just happened. It was simply crazy, insane beyond belief. His head throbbed with pain now, but Lanky, in a move that went against all logic of self-preservation, touched the crystal again. He had to; something in his mind was telling him that it was the right and proper thing to do now.

This time, nothing occurred. Whatever happened was so short-lived that the only evidence of his psychosis was a powerful headache and small traces of blood on the floor.

Without any further ado, Lanky threw the pendant into his backpack. Maybe it was a dangerous item, but still there was something in there he had to protect. At least, he felt like something was telling him to take care of that crystal.

All that was left on the desk was that book. That thing, on the other hoof, was also interesting, but still less interesting than the pendant. The writing was illegible, the book was wet, and soon the mold would eat it away anyway, but Lanky's eyes still managed to notice some interesting things. The illustrations that were still visible looked rather esoteric, apparently touching the subject of magic.

Seeing that nonsense, Lanky smirked. Magic was now nonexistent. When he was still a little foal, he heard the stories about how the old world was filled to the brim with magic, until some strange event weakened the arcane, effectively turning the world and all the order upside-down. He didn't believe these stories, thinking of it as of fairy-tales to scare the foals. The world he lived in was without magic, yet it endured. As far as he knew, there never was any magic. He wouldn't believe that such a ridiculous thing as magic ever existed.

_"But then, what was that just now? Magic? No, I don't think so. Maybe all that stress from my job, finally taking its toll on me. No, that makes absolutely no sense. Damn, I need a drink..."_

Lost in thoughts, Lanky made a mistake. It's never a good idea to lead the mind astray when scouting, and so, when somepony on the headset connected and began talking to him, he jumped, completely, utterly terrified.

"Lanky, come in, come in..."

Lanky took a moment to catch his breath and slow down his over-beating heart, and when he was feeling calm enough to respond he did so.

"Lanky here. What's the problem?"

"We've set up the camp, come here, we've found something _very_interesting. You have to see it!" An overly excited voice on the other side responded to his query. He had difficulty identifying the voice on the other side, it could be either Sweet Whisper or Red Snow. It didn't matter, both were his good friends anyway, both acted as his mission control and both had totally identical voices, something which perplexed him to no end.

"What?"

"It's a secret, you sillyfilly!" Lanky hated when they called him that.

"In a moment. I've also found something interesting..." He heard a click in the middle of the sentence, signaling the end of transmission. Great, just great, not only was his head in terrible pain, the fact he got ignored so easily only made matters worse.

When Lanky got outside, the sun was hanging ever lower on the horizon, and darkness was falling quickly over the forest. He knew the way back, and he was sure that the group had already set up the camp.

_'Just a few minutes of galloping and I'd be there,'_ he thought.

* * *

><p>When Lanky arrived he had directed the others to, he noticed that the expedition had already set themselves up. It was rather difficult to call it 'camp', it was more like a group of motorized Armored Pony Carriers, currently at standby. These heavy, threaded machines were designed for all-terrain traveling, and surprisingly were even capable of breaking through semi-dense forests. At the moment, APC's stood in convoy pattern surrounding a lit fireplace, forming a metal barrier between the comfortable camp and the lethal surroundings. It gave these i<em>paranoiacs<em>/i a needed sense of mental safety.

There was a commotion near one of the carriers, and Lanky went there, curious what it was about. When he was about midway to the commotion, he was interrupted.

"Hi!" a voice cheerfully greeted, sudden, unexpected, and from behind.

"Red, could you stop..." Lanky turned around, only to notice he was, as always, wrong. "...Okay, Sweet, stop that."

"Hi!" Sudden, unexpected, and from behind. Again. Their ability to appear completely unnoticed could be considered magical.

"Red, you too, please..." Lanky said, making a fake annoyed face.

Lanky turned around again, this time to face Red Snow. Somehow, Sweet Whisper managed to teleport herself, and was now standing next to her friend, her light creamy body and mane sharply contrasting Red's light-red body and dark-red mane in every aspect.

"Tell me, what was that all about?" Lanky inquired, eager to know what one of them meant by that cryptic message that was sent earlier.

"We've found somepony!" Both chirped in unison. Lanky thought it was creepy when they spoke simultaneously. Their identical voices had that particular effect on him. If he didn't know better, he could've sworn that these two were sisters.

"He was exhausted and dehydrated, Healer is taking care of him now," Sweet continued the explanation.

_"Healer...? Oh, him. That weirdo doctor who had both his flanks tattooed. With a big red cross. What pony in his right mind would ever think about tattooing a flank? Not to mention there's something strange about him... Nah, as long as he's doing his doctorly things, I think I can trust him..."_

"Terra to Lanky, Terra to Lanky!" Both mares said in unison.

"Uhh... Oh! Sorry, lost in thought. Who've you found?"

"We don't know," Red answered, "he was barely conscious when somepony in the group found him, lying down on the ground, but Healer says he'll be OK very, very soon!"

"Everypony wants to see him, that's why everypony has gathered there," Sweet Whisper added, pointing at the commotion.

"Fine, fine, I'll go rest for a moment and then we'll go see him, later, of course. Wait for me there. Oh, and charge it up for me, please," Lanky said as he handed the headset to Red.

_"The trip is getting better and better with each moment... I've found something strange, the paranoiacs have found somepony in a forest that should've killed him long ago, I've already met two ponies who think that having marks on their flanks looks good... I wish I had a cigarette now. Well, time to rest for a moment, I need a nap... Wait. It's her. Miss tattoo-flank with creepy-smile. Great. I won't be able to sleep for a while." _

In the corner of his eye, he noticed a gray mare with blond mane and tail come closer to Healer, and Lanky shuddered. Her name was Siren, and like Healer, she also had a mark on her flank, some sort of musical note Lanky could only guess, probably bass-key. There was something in her that made Lanky shudder just by looking at her. It might have been her odd behaviour, as she was almost always giggling and muttering something under her breath to herself. It might have been her eyes, her gaze piercing through everything. Or it might have been her ever-present smile, the unnerving, teeth-barring kind.

_"Don't judge a book by the cover... Yeah, right..."_ he thought to himself. Somehow, for no other reasons that simple intuition, he was deathly afraid of her.

As was everypony else in the camp.

* * *

><p>Healer stood over the teal pony who was found by the rest of the group. Some campers surrounded these two, curious and confused. After all, finding a live pony in Everfree? Miracle. Finding a weakened, dehydrated pony in that forest, a condition which many predators would definitely exploit? Nopony here knew any words to describe that kind of event.<p>

Many ponies asked themselves these questions: what happened and how? But Healer had another set of questions he decided not to voice.

"_He looks awfully familiar... Is it my imagination or what? I know I've seen him somewhere!"_

"I think that's all. Let him rest, I've gave him some isotonics, he should get better soon," he said to one of the travelers, who took upon herself the task of watching over the stranger through the night, "When he gets better, I'll get some water and wash him up... Just look at his mane, glued by all that dirt."

The pony standing over the teal-colored stranger nodded, happy inside Healer hadn't told her to wash that pony up.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go for a moment..." Healer said, more to himself than to anypony else. Ignoring everypony near him, he scanned the camp, looking for one particular pony. And he found her. She was coming to him.

Siren moved clumsily, staggering a little each time her hooves struck a root or slipped on wet moss. But she was ignoring all that, managing to keep her balance in the end. Healer noticed that other ponies semiconsciously moved away when she passed near them, but Siren either ignored that too, or simply didn't care. He wasn't sure anymore.

_"Poor little thing, it's getting outside of her."_ He thought, saddened by her condition. He was her only friend here, her only _hook_ that kept her at bay.

"Hey! Siren!" He said when she finally got near him.

"...Hi... Hihihi..." She giggled, drooping her head to the ground.

"Can I talk to you in private? Without all the other ponies nearby?" he asked, pointing at the forest with his left foreleg.

"Yes... Yes we can!" She smiled at him, presenting all her teeth. Healer shuddered. Even he was afraid of her teeth. He knew damn well what these were i_capable_/i of.

The duo moved out of the camp, a little into the forest, in a place near enough to the other campers that the predators of Everfree wouldn't attack them there, but far away enough to make themselves practically invisible. The searingly cold wind swayed the leaves on the trees, the noise making it impossible to eavesdrop on them. It was somewhat dark there, the light of the fireplace not reaching them there. For Healer, perfect, if a little bit eerie spot for some heart-to-heart conversation.

"Uhhhh... I've got a question, Siren. I've got this strange feeling, as if I've seen that teal pony somewhere... Do you recognize him?"

"...Hihihi... He smells... He smells igood/i._.._" Siren replied, giggling.

"So, you recognize him? He looks very familiar. I'm sure I would've known him! But I can't place my hoof on it..."

"...That brown pony i_smells good _too/i._.." _She whispered, pointing at the tall thin brown pony who was now near the fireplace, talking to two mares, one red and one cream-colored.

"What do you mean? You know him too? I don't think so. We've met recently, he's acting as the group's vanguard. I don't know him, anyway, do you?" Healer replied, thinking that it might be high time to _reset_ Siren.

"...He smells good smells good smells good!" She replied, her voice rising with each spoken word, dangerously reaching the point when she'd start screaming.

_"Ok. Reset."_

Luckily for them, nopony else heard the dull clap, the sound of Healer's hoof making a violent contact with Siren's face. He had done that numerous times already. By now, he knew perfectly how to hit her as to not draw any blood and not leave any marks he'd have problems explaining.

"...You better now?" He asked her, hoping she would answer normally. Sometimes he had to correct what he had done with another slap.

She looked at him, her eyes now sad, on the verge of crying.

"Yes... I'm better now... for a moment anyway... Hihihi..." she replied, a smile forming on her face again, sadness quickly fading from her eyes.

Healer didn't say anything more, but threw his forelegs at her and started hugging her. Each time he had to repeat the whole ceremonial, it felt worse and worse. He felt i_wrong/i_ to treat the one he loved like that.

"But that brown pony had changed his smell... He didn't smell like that before. And now he smells _good._ Hihihi..." She whispered into his ear.

_"Sorry"_ was the only word he had in his mind that moment. He kept repeating that while hugging her. And she was hugging him back.

Out of necessity, all was forgiven.

Or so he thought. He wasn't sure whether Siren even thought in such terms anymore.

* * *

><p>The fireplace cast a soft, orange glow across the camp. The moon, now high in the night sky, shone upon the world, illuminating it in wondrous, ambient glimmer. Even the stars, thousands of them visible up above, seemed to light up the place noticeably. If anything could look upon the place from high up there, the site would look like a small point of light sat against the sea of absolute darkness that Everfree was now.<p>

The camp was safe, but any ear sensitive enough could hear something in the distance – predators of night, hunting for food, using the darkness for their advantage. But the ponies were protected by the metal wall made of APC's convoying them.

The rest of the group was asleep by now, but Lanky just woke up, refreshed and full of vigor. Now was the time to see what had happened earlier.

"So, did he wake up?"

"Yup, he did!" It was Red who decided to respond to Lanky's question.

Lanky, Red Snow, and Sweet Whisper now stood near the mysterious newcomer. Lying on the blanket, covered in a first-aid blanket that kept him warm, the teal earth pony looked around with blank expression on his face. Healer was already sleeping, as well as the rest of the group, except for a few older stallions standing guard around the camp, so they were now alone. Just them and the new pony.

"Hi there, what's your name?" Sweet Whisper asked, trying to start the conversation.

The teal pony looked at her shyly, unsure what to say for a moment, before finally answering the question.

"I... I don't know."

"Great, a mysterious character with dark past, exactly what we need," Lanky whispered under his breath, his voice only loud enough for Red and Sweet to hear. Both giggled at that comment.

Seeing the consternation on the confused pony's face, Lanky asked, "What were you doing there anyway? It's the Everfree Forest! It's not really safe there."

The pony also thought for a moment, before answering in the same manner as before.

"I don't know... really."

Red Snow tried to ask him something, but Lanky interjected, "Say, did you live in that cottage nearby?"

"What cottage?" Red Snow and Sweet Whisper asked simultaneously.

"That old, rotten down one a few minutes gallop from here? Ring any bells?"

"No...?" the teal pony responded, apparently clueless about the whole thing.

"So you didn't. Totally expected, really." Lanky muttered to himself.

"What cottage?" Red and Sweet asked the question again, trying to catch Lanky's attention.

"I tried to tell you, but you disconnected!" Lanky said, showing a little how he had been annoyed at that.

"Oh, right. Sorry," Red looked down at the ground, a little ashamed.

"Anyway," Lanky sighed, then turned around, standing side to the teal pony, "I found a cottage! Broken down, uninhabitable, but somepony lived there a long time ago. And that's not the end, girls, look what I've found!" Lanky reached for his backpack, and took the pendant out, the chain around his hoof and gem swinging in a pendulum-like manner. The teal pony also had a clear view of the crystal.

"That's beautiful!" Red said, "Is that for me?"

"Gimme, gimme, gimme!" Sweet Whisper said, and then touched the crystal.

Lanky tried to avoid it, but Sweet Whisper managed to reach the crystal, her hoof touching it right in the center. To his surprise, absolutely nothing happened.

_"Ok, I don't understand it... What the hay happened to me back there?"_

"Wait, I've only just found it! I don't know if I'll give it to you!" Lanky laughed, then reached to the backpack to hide it back inside.

Out of the corner of his eye he noticed that there was something odd with the mysterious pony, so he shot a quick glance at him. The teal pony was breathing heavily, his eyes wide open and looking straight at him, in a stare so utterly creepy Lanky swore the eyes were looking down into the depths of his soul. Not really willing to stare back, he shrugged it off and turned his head away. It looked like girls didn't notice the stare.

"Anyway, girls, I'm tired. Good night," he said, then turned his head to the teal pony, "And good night to you too!"

The teal pony was still staring at him, his eyes locked on Lanky's every step step.

* * *

><p>Lanky slept on his blanket, clutching his backpack as if it was his security mascot.<p>

As a part of his job, Lanky had to be a light sleeper. Personally, he considered it a mixed blessing, because sometimes, he was woken up far too easily. Sometimes, of course, it was good, because he woke up exactly when something bad was going to happen.

Like now.

Sudden movement in his backpack got his attention, waking him up. He opened his eyes only to notice that there was a pony standing above him, holding the pendant by the chain in its mouth, and trying to back away slowly.

"...YOU!" Lanky yelled as he sprang up on his legs, ready to jump into action.

The thief turned around, and ran straight into the wilderness. Lanky noticed in the corner of his eyes that the commotion caused the camp to wake up, but frankly, he didn't give a damn. He just ran straight into the darkness, feeling the twigs slash at his face. He was furious, and adrenaline pumped in his veins, so he didn't care about the pain, or the extreme, searing coldness of the night. Even though the darkness made it almost impossible to notice anything, he still could see the thief, quite a good distance between them, but Lanky was slowly cutting down the distance.

But quite a way from the camp, he lost sight of the thief entirely. Trying to regain his composure, Lanky perked his ears, trying to hear where the thief was.

Then, something in his mind just clicked. It was just a very weak feeling, but at that moment, Lanky could... 'feel' where the thief was. Something just called to him, and he heeded the call. He sprung into gallop again, following his intuition. He was livid, and ran so fast even the forest's nocturnal predators had no chance at attacking him. Meanwhile, the fully-charged headset he had in his backpack beeped, somepony attempting to contact him. There was no time for idle chit-chat, however, and Lanky ignored it.

It took quite a long time, and even despite Lanky's agility, when he saw the thief again, it was already dawn.

They both arrived at the edge of the forest, in a place Lanky didn't recognize.

_"Ok, Lanky, focus... Where am I now? What's that place... And how do I return back to the group...? Ok, focus, is there something nearby that could help you tell your position?"_

Lanky surveyed the surroundings. There was a clearing, and a small, unknown town was near. From a distance, he noticed the thief entering the place, passing the houses of the town's outskirts.

Risky move.

Lanky followed him anyway into the town. When he entered he noticed a sign that made him realize where exactly he was. Lanky could just feel in exactly how much manure he had just stepped into.

It was Ponyville.

_"Uh-oh" _Lanky thought. Maybe if he did it quick, he could capture the thief and retreat back into the relative safety of Everfree. Keeping in mind that it was still morning, and nopony was on the town's streets, he finally managed to catch the thief near a big, hollowed-out, obviously inhabited tree in the town's centre. As he suspected, it was that teal pony his group had found back in the forest.

The stranger tried to negotiate.

"P-please, I can explain, I can explain," the teal pony wheezed, visibly shaken, tired beyond belief, and awfully weak. He was barely standing on his legs.

Considering that he had been found dehydrated so recently, the fervor in which he ran away and his choice of destination was an indicator of just how desperate he was to get that pendant. But Lanky was not in the mood for explanations. He just turned around and bucked the teal-coloured stranger. The run exhausted him, therefore it was a very weak buck, more like a light tap, but it was still strong enough to defeat the stranger, who just fell on the ground, completely defenseless.

Lanky's anger was subsiding, but the thief still had something which was his. The pendant was on the stranger's neck. Lanky swiftly used his hoof to take it away, and it was then when he noticed that the stranger wasn't looking at him anymore. Lanky ignored it anyway, took the pendant, and looked up.

His eyes met an intense stare of a armor-clad, snow-white unicorn guard.

_"Oh... manure."_

Lanky slowly backed up from the guard, only to bump into another behind him. He looked around, and noticed he was surrounded.

He felt the droplets of his sweat on himself. His mind went blank. He was scared. He had entered Luna's Domain. Not a good place for an earth pony like him to be at any time.

"In the name of Queen Luna and Princess Celestia, you are hereby arrested for trespassing!" somepony behind him said loudly in the most large-hammed way possible.

Then, Lanky felt a strong blow to the back of his head. His body quickly decided it was high time to take a vacation from consciousness.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Notes: Introductions are made, characters are set up, motives made clear or purposefully hidden, a number of plot hooks established... Only thing remaining is to spin all of these into action.

I like beer. However, I've got pretty weak head, and one beer is enough to make me somewhat dizzy. It's easier for me to write when sober, but it's easier for me to read what I've written after drinking 0.5L of Okocim Pszeniczne. Whelp, a conundrum.

OK, notes over. If you liked the story, please, write a review! Likewise, if you didn't, please tell me why. I'd be more than happy to know what's your opinion!

And again, thanks to Periphery from fimfiction and TFSuperfan and Mamoo from fanfiction dot net. I appreciate that!


	3. Chapter 2: An Atypical Canterlot Welcome

_"He who asks is a fool for five minutes, but he who does not ask remains a fool forever."_

**Birthright**

**Chapter 2: An Atypical Canterlot Welcome**

_"Uuugghhh... My head..."_

Lanky barely had any willpower to open his eyes. His head hurt too much for that. All he could feel was that he was lying on damp, stone floor... somewhere. Where exactly, he didn't know. Re-enumerating in his mind all the recent events, he guessed the he could be somewhere in Ponyville now. Or Canterlot. Maybe somewhere else, but that would be very unlikely. In the end, it didn't matter to him, remembering that the last thing he'd seen was that gaze he received from that guard, he instantly knew that wherever he was, his situation was dire.

For a few moments after his awakening, he heard almost nothing. It was so quiet there, so tranquil was the place where he was now that in fact the only thing his ears registered was that annoying ringing sound in the ears, the kind that appears only when there's nothing to hear. The tinnitus lasted for some time, until the silence was broken by the sound of something shifting and grunting somewhere near him. It was painful, but Lanky somehow managed to gather just enough strength to finally open his eyes.

The cell wasn't too bright, a small hole high above him only letting a little light inside. Ominous stonework and strong-looking metal bars told him volumes about his situation. He really had been imprisoned. Where, he still couldn't tell. The too-small window was too high anyway, so it would be impossible for him to look through to see where they were. The room itself was featureless. There was almost nothing there.

But one detail stood out anyway. He wasn't alone. In another corner, he saw the now all-too-familiar face of that teal pony he 'met' earlier. The stranger was now slowly waking up. Lanky observed the other pony for a moment. It took some time, but in the end, the pony had awakened, and then stood up for a few seconds before getting down again, as it was obvious that standing up while being chained was not a particularly pleasant thing.

_"Oh, we're chained... Beautiful. Just beautiful."_

Unsure what to say, Lanky decided to break the ice with a simple greeting.

"Hi."

The teal pony looked back at him. He instantly recognized who Lanky was, but to make himself one hundred percent sure, he asked him anyway.

"Hi... You're that pony from yesterday... aren't you?" The teal pony looked at Lanky with a visible hint of shame in his eyes.

"Yes."

"Oh."

_"Is that all you'd like to say? Oh? For stealing something that... uhm... probably wasn't yours anyway?" _

As if reading his mind, the stranger quickly gave a response.

"...Sorry... What's your name?"

"Lanky."

"...Sorry," the stranger said shyly, his eyes looking down, averting Lanky's sharp gaze.

'_That's going to be one hay of an awkward conversation,_' Lanky thought. There were so many questions he could ask him, but it was so hard to choose the one best query from a swarm of all possible inquiries.

_"Think, Lanky, think! You want to ask him something... But what shall I ask him first? About that pendant? Who he is? What he knows? Think, what do you want to ask him!" _

"What's your favorite kind of music?" he blurted out. Good question... for a conversation starter at a particularly boring party. Bad question for their current situation.

_"Ok, that's odd... Why did I ask that anyway? I know I can say the stupidest things under pressure, but that was just dumb."_

"I don't have any particular taste... Everything's ok with me..." Teal pony meekly replied, "and yours?"

"Neither do I. I'm tone deaf, and therefore I don't have any particular favorite," Lanky replied in a very dry tone.

_"Hmm... Looks like we've got something in common... But why did I ask that question anyway? Think, Lanky, think, there are more important thing to be asked now!"_

"So, who are you anyway? What were you doing in the Everfree forest?" Lanky asked, finally managing to get the most important question out of his head.

"Sorry, but I don't know..." the teal pony replied. Somehow, Lanky believed him. There was something so innocently sincere in the tone of his voice that it was literally impossible not to trust his words.

Before Lanky could react, the teal pony began to speak.

"But I could ask you the same question. What were you all doing in Everfree Forest? Why..."

"I'll tell you later, I've got more questions. Was that crystal yours?" Lanky interrupted before the teal pony could ask one more question. Finally he was getting on the right track.

"Not exactly..."

"So why did you try to steal it from me? Do you know what that crystal is? Is it important? Priceless?" Lanky inquired, surprisingly not feeling yesterday's rage again. He was perfectly calm now. All he wanted was answers to satisfy his curiosity.

The stranger didn't say anything, choosing to turn his head away instead. For a very long minute he appeared deep in thought, as if waging his words carefully.

"I... I don't know. I just had to get my hooves on that pendant... Something was telling me that I should do it. So I was going to take it... Without your acknowledgement, if it was ok with you..."

That response surprised him. Although he was now getting a little bit annoyed with how sheepishly meek was that stranger's style of talking, what he described was exactly word-for-word how Lanky felt about the whole situation. Touching the crystal again after such brutal treatment, picking it up to safeguard, and lastly, running through the dangerous forest at night, ignoring the connection attempts from the rest of the group, just to get it back: He didn't have any reason to do any of that. Some unknown feeling was telling him to get that thing and protect it. It wasn't himself that wanted it. It was that gemstone's magic that manipulated him.

_"Okay, I don't understand what's going on. Not at all..."_

"Okay, I understand..." Lanky sighed, betraying his thoughts.

Somehow, the fact that he got manipulated into the situation didn't make him angry at all. Not even irritated. Not even a little bit upset. He was feeling completely indifferent about his mind being messed with. This confused him. He knew he should be at least somewhat angry at that teal pony and that pendant for getting him jailed nopony-knows-where, but he could feel there was something in his mind that blocked all the anger.

The teal pony began to speak, but Lanky interrupted him again.

"I've got an idea... You say you don't remember your name, right?"

"...Yes. I don't."

"So, what about, until you finally remember, I'll call you... Teal?" Lanky replied.

_"Naming him after the colour of his body and mane. Perfect. Yeah, look how ingenious I am! Am I not?"_

"...Fine by me. Thanks." Teal replied, a delicate hint of gratitude in his voice, then added after a moment of silence, "So, could you answer my question, pretty please?"

"And that was...?"

"What were you all doing in Everfree?"

"Oh, that!" Lanky said, remembering that the teal pony tried to ask him something, before being interrupted. That moment, he remembered that something like that happened yesterday, with him being the ignored one and Red Snow being the ignoree.

_"How hypocritical of you, Lanky,"_ he mentally punished himself. After a second spent thinking over that, he began telling his story, while the teal pony listened quietly, occasionally nodding to what Lanky was saying.

"It's simple, really. I'm living in Manehattan, working as an accountant, and thinking I need a vacation. The stress was really getting to me... And then, oddly coincidentally, I get a message from my good friend, Red Snow- you saw her with me yesterday-that a group of ponies wants to run away from Terra, somewhere through the border, to resettle a forgotten hayhole they've found on some maps dug out from some dusty archives. From what I know, that ghost town was called Appleloosa. Well, judging from that it's near the buffalo territory, I'm thinking that these ponies were simply looking for an easy way to commit suicide. But then, on the other hoof, such an adventure could be interesting, so I decide to give it some thought... And then, I find out that Red Snow told them that I was apparently a good outdoorsman, therefore they really want me as a scout for their crazy trip. Well, I do like spending some weekends out in the Whitetail woods, but not Everfree! But then I find out that my second good friend, Sweet Whisper was also invited by her, and she agreed, so I have no choice, I took a vacation at the company. We all meet near the Western Everfree Front, and after two days of traveling through the forest I find that pendant, somepony in the group finds you somewhere nearby, and you probably know the rest..."

It took him a few minutes to tell the story, mainly because he realized he was a poor storyteller, and he had to make it as engaging as he could. There was no need for it, anyway, it was only to satisfy his sometimes-occurring, always-failing perfectionism. Teal would be interested anyway, no matter how poorly he tried to tell it. While he was relaying the story, he thought about his friends, Sweet Whisper and Red Snow. He was a little bit worried now, but he somehow knew that they were doing just fine out there.

Teal brooded over his words for a moment, before replying after a long minute of total silence.

"I'm sorry," he said, "but there's a problem with your story."

"And that is?" Lanky asked, curious what that pony was thinking about.

"Sorry to say, but what you've said makes absolutely no sense."

"What do you mean?" Lanky said, completely surprised. He himself couldn't see any problems with his story. To make it even clearer to Teal, he tilted his head to signalize that he really couldn't guess Teal's train of thought.

"For such a small, casual group, you seemed pretty _well__-_organized..." The teal pony, despite still sounding timid, allowed himself a single smirk.

Lanky still couldn't see what was wrong with his story. He shook his head in disagreement.

"Did you ask yourself, or did Sweet Whisper or Red Snow ask somepony else, how exactly that group had access to HoofBeat mk.4 Armored Pony Carriers? Yes, they're a little bit outdated, it's possible to buy them decommissioned on the aftermarket, but they would cost a small fortune. Each."

Somehow, it hadn't occured to him to ask them how in the hay they got such technology. That single question made him feel incredibly dumb. If he had armor, this would be the arrow piercing precisely through it.

They remained silent, both of them unsure what to say to each other. To kill the time, Lanky asked the guard passing near their cell periodically, a middle aged green pegasus, if he could bring them the newspaper. It appeared that the guard was in a good mood, because he brought him what he wanted.

It was very, very difficult to read those neigh-gothic letters. To add insult to injury, it was printed on an old, or merely artificially antiquated scroll. It was so different from Manehattanian newspapers, which were printed on normal, white paper, with words written in pony-readable letters.

Surprisingly even for him, he managed to somehow comprehend the strange font, and the text had no secrets anymore. The content was mind-numbing anyway, just like the newspapers back in the city. Celebrity gossip, some politics (Lanky skimmed through these, but didn't notice any mention of any tensions with earth ponies, as instead they focused on some petty, internal power struggles), random articles about pretty much anything and nothing at the same time... One article did catch his undivided attention, however.

_'Crying Dragon sighted near Trotheim, driven away by brave town guards... again.'  
>"For the umpteenth time, the Crying Dragon was sighted, trying to sneak past our guards..."<em>

The rest of the article was so unprofessionally written, that if he were the editor, he'd fire that pony first thing in the morning.

Trying his best to stomach the rest of the article, he focused the most on the first sentence. In his opinion, it was all bullmanure. There simply couldn't exist such creatures as dragons. There were legends, mere foal-tales heard by Lanky, that in the old world, before the Shift, such creatures lived, sustained by magic. It didn't matter today anyway, the dragons simply were no more. But then, if the article was true... The Crying Dragon, named so for reasons not mentioned in the article, sure could be an interesting sight to see. Lanky decided to keep that article in mind. He felt compelled to go to that Trotheim city, with his friends, just to see a real dragon. There would be problems, for example it was not earth pony territory... And there was a question whether the creature really existed, as he somehow still couldn't believe the article... But still, a dragon!

_"Or maybe it's just an attempt to promote tourism to that city... But that's strange, I've never heard of dragons living anywhere in the world..."_

Feeling a little bit excited, but still bored out of his mind, Lanky passed the scroll to his impromptu room mate, but Teal just shot a quick glance, and then turned his head away, disinterested.

They spent the remaining time in silence. An hour later, two guards came to their cell, gave them some surprisingly tasty hay and water for dinner, and after both had finished eating, unchained them and told them that their fate was to be decided now.

Walking slowly to the courtroom, while passing through a high-ceiling corridor build in universally-recognized Canterlotian style, Lanky noticed through a window that they were in Canterlot. Such a beautiful view could only be seen from high upon the mountainside, and Canterlot was the only city known to be built in such manner. He had the hunch before, but now, his worst fears were confirmed.

* * *

><p>The evening sunlight, filtered through the courtroom's stained glass windows made for a magnificent sight. The room was flooded with a magnitude of colors and hues, casting gentle rainbow tints across the floor and those present.<p>

Lanky observed the courtroom for a moment. The room would be beautiful even without the stained glasses. Masterfully carved wooden benches and pulpits, adorned with floral reliefs, looked expensive and very regal. The floor was white marble, uneven after so many years and after so many hooves left visible tracks and indentations in the stone. Walls were also built using perfectly chiseled white marble slabs. The ceiling, on the other hoof, was wooden. A beautiful crystal candelabra hung above all the ponies, gathered inside the courtroom, waiting impatiently for the process to start. It was the first time in his life that Lanky had seen so many unicorns and pegasi. In Manehattan, one could occasionally find a horned or winged pony, but they were so rare that many citizens living in Terra lived their lives never seeing one. It seemed that in Luna's Domain, the same could be said about earth ponies. Except for Lanky and Teal, there was nopony else in the room like them. On the benches surrounding them, there was a multitude of young unicorns and pegasi, apparently students of law, learning by example how to be good, proper lawyers. Before them all, behind an obscenely ornate wooden desk, five elderly ponies, three unicorns and two pegasi, sat on wooden, comfortable-looking chairs. One of them, a very old, creamy-red unicorn mare with gray mane and tail, held a metal staff in her mouth. Suddenly, she struck the floor, and the staff let out a loud, metallic ringing. The room fell silent immediately.

The Lesser Gathering, pretty much the lowest tier of Luna's Domain judicial system, designated for small, unimportant civil cases, had assembled, with one topic in their mind: What should they do with these two trespassers? The general consensus, apparently shared by everypony in the room, especially Lanky and Teal, was painfully simple: send them back to the Earth territory, pronto. They were harmless, they had no papers that would allow or explain their existence there, their arrival there was a minor mistake, they were too clumsy to be spies, and above all, they were not welcome there. Just throw them away, everypony thought.

But even so, the ceremony had to be completed. There would be a simple preamble, then the Head of the Gathering will say out loud what happened, and after a simple questioning, the prisoners would be released near the border.

And the ceremony began. An old pony, a yellowish unicorn mare, unfolded a scroll using her hooves on the ornate stone pulpit, and began reading it, somewhat louder and clearer than the last speaker.

"We are gathered here to decide the fate of two earth ponies, by the names of Lanky and... name unknown...?" The unicorn read the sentence again and again, trying to wrap her mind around that last part, but very quickly regained her composure and started reading again from where she left," who were found trespassing on the Domain's grounds. These two broke the treaty forbidding unauthorized access through the borders, and could not produce any documents on request, authorizing their visit, and for that, our law is simple: extradition to where they came from, to Terra."

Lanky was too intimidated to point out that those guards that captured them _didn't_ request any documents.

Trying to gather some courage, he looked to his right, to see how Teal was coping with the whole situation. However, the stranger looked completely indifferent to what was happening, and all he was doing was gazing at the floor, lost deep in his thoughts. In the corner of his eye, he noticed that the students were transcribing everything that was happening on their scrolls, eagerly learning the arts.

"Is there anything that the defendants would like to add?" Another one of the judges, this time a middle-aged cyan pegasus stallion, spoke directly to them. Lanky didn't know how to react. It was so different than what he already knew. He didn't have any problems with the law way back in Manehattan, but he knew well that back there, in Terra, the part of Divided Equestria where he was born, the judicial system worked on a different set of principles and customs. For example, there were attorneys who would work in defense. But here, that wasn't the case. Everything was different. The whole ceremony, the process, even the judges choice of words had no match to what Lanky knew.

He maintained his calm facial expression, but he was feeling lost nonetheless. The culture clash left him in total darkness. All he could do, and all he did, was to shake his head to express that there was nothing more to add. In the depths of his heart, he knew that it was the best possible outcome, anyway, and therefore he had no objections.

The five turned around to face each other. They whispered silently amongst each other, and after a consensus had been formed, they turned around, facing Lanky and the teal pony again.

"So the sentence stands," the creamy-red mare spoke, "Lanky and... name unknown will be deported to Terra as soon as possible."

_"Well, that was one quick verdict... Seriously, what's going on?" _Lanky thought, confused by how fast the whole procedure went. _"It's so different, so strange... I'm lost. I'm completely lost as to what's going on! For starters, why are we in Canterlot? Why all that gaudy ceremonial? Why not kick us out back to Terra right now?"_

While Lanky was completely lost in his thoughts, the creamy-red mare took the metal staff in her mouth and started striking the floor. Lanky didn't know what that meant, but all the remaining ponies in the room knew that it was to symbolize the lawfully binding decision. The staff would hit the floor three times, and then it was over, the sentence couldn't be turned over anymore except by the higher instance of the court.

The rod struck once, and the metallic sound reverberated across the room.

The rod struck the marble for the second time, and the ringing noise bounced off the walls and around the room again.

A moment before the rod struck the floor for the third time, which would make the sentence final, the heavy wooden doors to the courtroom swung open violently, almost blown out. The force was so strong that the marble near the hinges cracked a little.

All heads in the room turned around, clueless and confused. One pony, a young, violet unicorn mare with green eyes entered the room, holding a scroll in her mouth. She quickly gaited to the gathering, placed the scroll on the pulpit and turned around, exiting the room while completely ignoring the commotion she caused. When she entered the room, Lanky noticed that she, like Healer and Siren, also had a 'tattooed' flank. This time, the 'tattoo' represented a tree.

"_What the hay is with all those tattoos? Who would want to have a tattoo on their flanks anyway?"_ Lanky pondered for a moment, being more interested in her flank than in her rather dynamic entry. Through his whole life, he never ever saw a tattooed flank. All flanks were simply blank. And now, in two days, he saw three ponies who apparently thought it was cool.

_"Is that some new fashion statement or what?"_

The mare who was leading the trial broke the wax seal of the scroll and unscrolled it on the pulpit. The remaining judges looked over her shoulder, highly curious as to what was written there. With each word they read, their expressions changed from confusion about the commotion, to astonishment from reading the contents of the scroll. The yellowish unicorn mare apparently couldn't believe what was written there, as her eyes moved rapidly through the text, again and again, as if to ascertain the authenticity. Finally, her voice breaking, she managed to read out loud what was written there.

"By the decree of Queen Luna, voiced by the Synod of Canterlot, these two trespassers have been sentenced to death. Their execution is to be carried out tomorrow at dawn."

* * *

><p>She was in hurry, for she had to get to her residence as soon as possible. But even despite that, there were some things in the world worth stopping for.<p>

Tree Root took a deep breath. She let the air stay in her nostrils for a moment, enjoying the fragrances of Canterlot as she trotted nervously through the streets of the Mythical City on the Hill.

She considered herself _educated_ enough to be one of the chosen few who could understand all the subtle details of the city. And for her, the best way to determine the character of the place was to smell it, and the capitol of Luna's Domain proved to be quite a challenge.

The city of arts lived according to it's name, and the smell of paint, drying somewhere near her, in an atelier of some probably well-known artist reminded her to visit a gallery. She even felt the stone-dust gently irritating her nose, the byproduct of a sculptor working on a new project, making her remember some of her favorite sculptures she had seen while she had lived there, and that she hadn't been to any exhibition in a long time.

But there was no time for that. Not today, anyway. There were more important tasks at hoof.

The cafes of Canterlot- the aromas of freshly baked cakes, and the fragrances of so many varieties of tea and coffee tingled her senses, making her feel the painful craving for a good cappuccino.

There were so many more smells, but a peculiar one amazed her, an ominous, ethereal one. For it wasn't recorded by her olfactory senses, but by her brain, being noticeable to her thanks only to her knowledge.

The smell of decay. It wasn't the city that smelt like that, no, the city thrived without any problems, completely ignorant as to what really was going on. But she could tell the source of that odor was somewhere in the Castle; she could pinpoint the exact location to be the royal chambers, where Princess Celestia and Queen Luna resided. The problem with that odor was that it really was there, inside the Canterlot Palace. In the city, however, the smell still clung to her, and she couldn't shake it off.

_"Poor ponies, lied to every day."_ That was her problem, knowing well the dirtiest secrets of Canterlot made her a little bit stressed and cynical.

But she was aware that no secret can be hold ad infinitum; she could feel the cold breeze of the winds of change blowing at her. And soon, unless the Synod was to take some preemptive emergency measurements, the same wind would start blowing everywhere.

Because today was a special day. Something unexpected happened. Something which was in nopony's plans.

And Tree Root needed necessary corrections. She needed orders.

Her mind jumped into higher gear, making her appropriately paranoid. That peculiar behavior of hers was her most prized possession, for it was the only thing that kept her alive through the difficulties she had come upon in her job. She looked around herself, not to gaze upon the beautiful, if a bit gaudy architecture, but to see whether she was followed.

But nopony was following her. Or so it seemed, but she was aware of her abilities and therefore was sure that nopony could've followed her without her knowledge.

What perplexed her, however, was that some ponies looked at her flank, at the mark she had there. A rather _cute_ mark that represented a tree. But she knew that these ponies thought of her as merely another crazy artist who decided to paint or tattoo a mark on her body.

_Suckers._

When she came upon the doors to her apartment, she looked around one more time. Nopony was following her. She quickly opened the doors, and as soon as she could she locked them with a key.

Inside, she stood silently, listening carefully to sense if somepony was hiding in her home, an eavesdropper or an assassin.

But she heard absolutely nothing. Either she really was alone or the other parties were that good at hiding. She decided to take a risk and assume the first option.

She closed all the curtains, her room veiled in deep shadows. Then, she opened a hidden cache in her desk, and from it took a small item, a special thing that couldn't be found anywhere else in Canterlot. A headset.

She donned it, the earpiece snugly fitting in, and pressed the call button with her hoof. To somepony uninitiated, the silence on the other end would only make them think that the thing was broken, but she knew what to do to make somepony listen.

"Two, seven, eight, three, switch to encrypted channel." She whispered, and waited patiently for a response. Her head was now shaking, eyes sweeping the room to intercept anypony who could be listening to her right now. In her job, nopony could ever be paranoid enough.

Soon enough she heard somepony on the other side of the world talking to her, asking her what the problem was, to which she replied.

"Mission failed. The Synod is aware. The pendant hasn't been intercepted by us. The teal pony and that other, brown one, whomever-he-is, have been sentenced to death; I've even personally delivered the letter from the... you know, _Queen Luna_. There are no backup plans we can commence. Requesting orders now."

The voice on the other side began talking to her, relaying the orders. She nodded to each one, understanding the burdens that have been put at her.

But the last order shocked her. With each second, Tree Root became more and more scared. The weight of responsibility that had been put on her right now was unbearable. And soon, not waiting for her response, the connection was cut. She was breathing heavily, trying to comprehend the words that had been spoken to her. Finally, hooves shaking, she put the headset away.

Although it was radically idiotic to even whisper anything about her mission, she muttered quietly to herself, in an attempt to comprehend what had she'd just been told.

"Help them escape by... No... What... what do you mean, 'reroute, disarm or... _liquidate _the guards?' How am I supposed to do that?"

* * *

><p>"Stop panicking, please..." Teal tried his best to calm Lanky down, but to no avail, the death sentence reduced him to a somewhat emotionally unstable pony. He was shaking violently. His mind still wouldn't comprehend what had just happened. Neither would the rest of the courtroom. The moment the sentence was heard, everypony's mouth went agape from shock. It was so surreal that even the five judges couldn't believe what they'd read. But the document was authentic, and there was nothing they could do.<p>

"Calm down, calm down... NO! BUCK YOU! HOW CAN I CALM DOWN?" Lanky yelled at Teal, who somehow managed to stay calm through the whole ordeal. Lanky lost his cool, his mind was shattered, and his higher cognitive functions had shut down. He couldn't believe it. He thought about his two closest friends, Red Snow and Sweet Whisper. He'd kill somepony just to be with them right now, preferably somewhere far, far away.

The guards were listening to the screams from their station, near the heavy wooden doors that divided the dungeon from the rest of the royal palace. The doors were across the long corridor, which carried the screams well, setting the mood perfectly. However, thanks to the acoustic properties of the location, all sounds were distorted, and therefore, guards didn't hear what that crazy tall brown pony was yelling about. The context was clear, anyway.

* * *

><p>Near the wooden doors that led to the outside world, to the lower parts of Canterlot Palace, two guards stood, guarding the dungeon, seeing to it that nopony could escape. Not under their watch!<p>

But the problem with these two guards was, right that moment, they were utterly terrified. They listened to the screams of that brown earth pony imprisoned in a cell near them. Usually, they would ignore it. After all, any ponies who found themselves inside that dungeon definitely deserved such a fate!

But not them. Not these two earth ponies. They did absolutely nothing. They just wandered into Luna's Domain by accident. Yet, they were sentenced to death.

These two guards, the paragons of all virtues that characterized the Royal Guard, were anything but. Their bodies were shaking lightly, their teeth gritting as if they were cold. Their eyes showed not the strength of proud Canterlot warriors, but instead weakness, confusion, and fear.

"A-Aegis?" One guard, an armor clad, orange unicorn asked his old-time friend.

"Y-y-yes, Miles?" The other one, a green pegasus replied, stuttering just like his friend. Both felt too stressed not to stutter.

"W-what's going on?" Miles whispered after a moment.

"I wish I knew." Aegis replied, the tone of his voice clearly showing how confused he was.

"B-but you should know! Aegis, my old friend, you served as Queen Luna's Vangua-"

Aegis snapped the moment he heard Miles mention his old position.

"No! I've told you not to mention that _ever again. _I was demoted after that _scandal_, and I do not want to talk about it!_"_

An uneasy silence fell between them, interrupted only by the incoherent screams of that brown pony. But after a moment, Miles decided to drill the topic further.

"But could you tell me, are our Queen and Princess really that... for lack of a better word, _unkind_, to just sentence them to death just like that? After all, of all the ponies, only you have seen them personally. I've served all my life under them, but never did I see them before my very own eyes."

Aegis pondered for a moment. He was bound by law not to answer such queries. But he quickly thoughtout a way to not answer the question.

"...No. They're not. It must've been a mistake."

For a fleeting second, Aegis felt bad to lie to his friend. But it was a necessity. Were Miles to know the truth, he would be shattered. Not to mention Aegis would've had to kill his friend for possessing highly classified information.

After another moment of silence, this time not interrupted by the distorted screams that came out of one of the cells, Miles decided it was time to do something.

"M...Maybe we should open the cell and let them escape...? And then escape ourselves? Don't you see it, friend? Something has changed. Canterlot is dangerous. I don't want to live there anymore!"

"I-I'll think about that." Aegis stuttered out. Somehow, what Miles said was oddly tempting. Desertion and escape appeared to be the best option now.

* * *

><p>Back at the cell, Teal decided it was high time to calm Lanky down. And he knew exactly how.<p>

"...I can help you." The stranger said, in a tone so tranquil that Lanky relented just a little, but not enough.

"HOW?"

"...Calm down, please, and I will tell..."

"Calm down, calm down, calm down, calm down..." Lanky kept repeating these words like a mantra for a long time, almost an hour, till he finally regained some peace of his fractured mind. By that time, the night had fallen, still young.

"...I'm calm... I think..." Lanky said, his shaking voice betraying his words.

"Ok, good... Now listen..." the teal pony said, then turned his head to see if there was anypony eavesdropping on them. Luckily for them, the rest of the dungeon was apparently empty, and the guards were far away enough not to hear what they were talking about.

"Do you trust me?" Teal asked Lanky. He nodded in return, fearing that if he was to open his mouth again, his emotions would explode and knock out all of his mental stability he managed to regain by now. The nod was rather insincere, because the brown pony couldn't answer that question anyway. There were so many thoughts in his mind, he couldn't think about whether he could trust him or not.

"Now, listen... I might have... _traded _some of my memories, but there are some things I still know..." the teal pony nervously shook his head, to see if somepony else was listening, "I've been here once before, in this very dungeon. And I've escaped. I know how to escape, I know the way around. Want to escape with me? Because I don't really want to die either, you know..." he said, still sounding timid. This time, there was a small tinge of sureness in his voice.

Lanky looked at Teal with eyes wide open. His mind couldn't understand completely what he just said, but he caught the gist of it. He nodded in acknowledgement.

"Want to escape right now?"

Lanky nodded again, not sure if this could work. He decided to trust his life to that stranger.

"Ok... Now listen, and listen very carefully. First, don't say what you don't really have to say. Second, _act_ natural"- the accent could be clearly heard on the word 'act'- " And third, most important, _don't look at me when that happens, the spell can misfire._" Teal said, somehow managing to accentuate the whole part of a sentence. "Do you understand?"

Lanky shook his head in disagreement. He didn't understand what Teal was saying. The stranger smirked in response.

"That's good. You don't have to understand. Just do it. Just yell for help." It didn't sound like an order, more like a request he said in his ever-meek voice. But the words still carried that peculiar aura of obedience.

And then Teal began thrashing violently. His body jerked, as if twisted by an unbearably painful seizure. His eyes went wide open, wild and unfocused. White foam formed in the corners of his mouth.

For the second time in his life, and in the day, Lanky had been genuinely petrified. Thoughts in his mind raced, unsure what to do.

'_Act natural..._' A single thought that snapped Lanky back into action.

"HELP! HELP! WE NEED HELP!" He yelled, trying to catch the attention of guards. To get them there faster, he struck his hooves at the metal bars of his cell. It was enough. He heard the gallop of the two guards coming closer to them.

The words of the unnamed pony flashed in his mind again. '_Don't look at me when that happens..._' Lanky instinctively closed his eyes, though he didn't understand the reason.

A second after he closed his eyes, he heard the guards finally arrive to their cell.

Then, all sounds stopped. The teal pony stopped thrashing. The guards didn't do anything. Lanky heard a sizzling sound, and an unbearably strong odor of ozone hit his nostrils. He was too terrified to open his eyes when he heard the guards open their cell. He didn't even twitch when he felt his chains move, one of the guards unchaining him.

"It's ok, you can open your eyes now..." the stranger cooed. Lanky slowly opened his eyes, then blinked a few times. The guards stood above them, unmoving, their bodies stiff, faces expressionless, and their eyes glassy and looking into empty space.

Slowly, Lanky rose up. His joints cracked loudly, finally having a little freedom of movement after he was brought back to the cell after the trial. He heard Teal's joints cracking too.

"I'm a good actor, am I not?" The teal pony said, smiling as if nothing happened.

"Don't. Do. That. Ever. Again." Lanky stuttered out, not really understanding why Teal had to act like that to make him call the guards.

_"That was the most convincing act I've ever seen in my life. I don't want to see it ever again. Even in the movies the acting is not as convincing as what you did there... WAIT. WHAT DID YOU DO THERE AND WHAT HAPPENED TO THESE GUARDS?" _It took all his mental strength not to yell that thought at Teal.

Lanky began to move slowly to the opened doors of the cell, eager to get the out of there.

_"At last, free-" _

"Stop." Teal barked, and Lanky obeyed. The teal pony walked slowly to the opening, but stopped just as he was to cross it.

Lanky observed with great curiosity what Teal was doing. He moved his head closer to the metal bars of the door frame, careful not to put his head through it. Then, a small light formed on his forehead, and again, there was a sizzling sound, and a strong smell of ozone hit their nostrils.

When the spell began to form, the hair on the stranger's forehead began to flow, as if shaken by a strong gust of wind. It was that exact moment when he realized that Teal was, in fact, a unicorn. His dirty mane was always formed in such a way that the stump where his horn was was obscured from view, but now, when the magical energies flowed, Lanky could see everything clear. The pony's horn had been removed, leaving only a small stump, nothing but a mere mark on his head.

In the air, where the doors were, many arcane-looking symbols became visible. They appeared as if taken out of an alphabet Lanky didn't recognize. All of them looked as if made of translucent, milky mist. They moved around in circles, forming a transparent wall placed where the doors were. As they moved, these arcane letters left behind traces of mist that quickly faded away.

The light formed on the stranger's forehead grew in intensity, and the symbols slowly began to fade. When these disappeared, so did the light. The cell became dark again.

Lanky's mouth was agape. It was beautiful, he thought. It was amazing. It was...

"Magic..." he stuttered, not believing his eyes.

Teal nodded, and then shook violently, as if he was cold.

"...Yes. Yes it was. Don't ask me now, I'll explain it later. Don't ask why I'm shaking... Please. Don't ask."

It hadn't occured to Lanky to ask why the other pony was shivering. His mind was still preoccupied with amazement of what he had just seen. Through all his life, he hadn't believe in magic, and there it was, witnessed before his very own eyes. There were so many questions he wanted to ask, but he was hushed even before he asked.

_"Buck that, I've got to ask!"_

"What was that just now? All these letters, just what was that? Was that magic?"

"Yes. It's magic. It's an enchantment that I call 'tripwire'," the stranger said in a voice that made it clear he had an absolute authority over such things, "It detects when anypony unauthorized tries to cross it, and if triggered, it fires a quiet alarm that would call to every guard in the vicinity."

"How... How do you know that?" Lanky almost yelled that question out, restraining himself in the last possible moment.

"I'll tell later. We don't have time for that."

Lanky nodded to Teal's answer. _"He's right... We've got to escape right now!"_

The teal pony stuck his head through the doorway, the metal bars that formed one wall of their cell no longer obstructing his sight. He looked left, he looked right, he looked left again, and then took a first step towards freedom.

Lanky followed, walking out of the jail into the dungeon's corridor. It was a low-ceiling tunnel, dim lights of torches throwing weak light onto the walls made of heavy blocks of stone. The air was so humid and warm that Lanky felt as if he was in a sauna.

He and Teal both turned around at the same time. The guards still stood in their cell, blissfully ignoring the rest of the world. The teal pony closed the doors to their jail and turned the key, locking the guards, one green pegasus and one orange unicorn, inside.

"...Please forgive me. It's for the best," the stranger cooed to the guards. They didn't even react.

He turned his head to Lanky.

"Simple mind control spell. Don't worry about them, Lanky, they're safe. They will be like that 'til morning."

It didn't convince Lanky anyway.

_"Was that supposed to calm me? Just ignore the fact that you're capable of raping somepony's mind just like that?"_

He looked around. The four of them were alone. All the remaining cells were empty. They were empty when they first arrived there, too.

_"Do they execute everypony found guilty of anything in Luna's Domain? I know in Terra almost nothing is known about our brethren except the most basic facts, but that just beats all. What a hayhole this place is. Ugh."  
><em>

Lanky turned to the doors that would lead them outside, into the lowest parts of Canterlot palace. Teal, however, turned back and began walking down the corridor, deeper into the dungeon.

"W... Where are you going?" Lanky asked, curious as to why Teal wasn't escaping right there, right now, with him.

"I've... got one more thing to do. You can come if you like," the stranger said, walking down the corridor.

"Okay, I'll come. But quickly, please, I want to get out!" Lanky spoke, but Teal ignored him.

Lanky followed him anyway. At the end of the corridor, they came upon a stairwell. It winded down, deep into the mountain. Down, there was another corridor like the one where their cell was located. Like in the upper corridor, all cells were empty.

Except one. One particular cell was completely different. It was much, much bigger, clearly designed not to hold anypony within. To make matters complicated, it was veiled in impenetrable darkness that didn't let Lanky see what was imprisoned there.

And there was something inside. Something big, lying down quietly in the ever-veiling shadow. Something that definitely wasn't a pony. Something that couldn't be seen, something that made Lanky shiver just by being there. Only sound he could hear was his own heartbeat, the sound somehow amplified. He felt his throat and mouth getting dry just by looking into the abyss where that thing was. What made it worse was that the abyss seemed to stare back at them.

When the Teal began to speak, Lanky jumped, already scared out of his mind.

"I'm sorry... Please, forgive me... I still can't help you. Wait a little bit longer for me, I'll find a way to get you out of there... I'll find a way to end your pain. I still can't find it. Wait for me a little bit longer, please?" Teal said in a motherly tone, trying to calm whatever was inside.

The thing grunted, the sound that only an unearthly creature in a world of pain could make, and Lanky almost lost it completely. He was already losing sanity just by standing there. The atmosphere of the place, the dim lights of the torches, the impenetrable darkness of the big holding cell, that... imprisoned thing inside. His mind couldn't take it anymore. Every particle of his body wished to get out of there, FAST. He couldn't stand there for any longer!

Near the cell, there was a small cabinet with a red cross, a universally-recognized symbol of first aid, a symbol which eerily reminded Lanky of that Healer stallion back in the group. The stranger opened it, and took a small plastic vial from there, which he promptly threw into the cell through the metal-bar wall, right into the darkness.

"Here, have some more painkillers. I know you need these. I'll see you later... Sorry," he said to the darkness, and slowly walked back to the stairwell. Lanky followed eagerly. The sooner he left that place, the better for both of them.

When they went back upstairs, Lanky's instincts finally kicked in, and galloped for a moment, as fast from the stairwell as his tired hooves could carry him, this instinctive action letting him regain just a little of his sanity. The teal unicorn instead gaited slowly, not afraid of that eldritch abomination imprisoned down there.

When they were halfway through the upper corridor, Lanky stopped running and decided to ask him what he had just experienced.

"What... Was that?" Lanky asked, speaking every word in-between irregular gasps.

"He's... a friend of mine. Yes, you could say he's my friend. Name's Discord."

Even Lanky couldn't believe it, the contrast between such a dangerous thing and such silly name making him smirk, the laughter breaking down the tension.

"Discord" He muttered under his nose... "What an appropriate name!"

Teal's expression went somber. "It's far more appropriate than you would ever know."

Lanky didn't ignore that comment, but decided not to ask any more than he had to. There was still a string of pure, primeval fear when he thought about what was inside that cell, about what he couldn't see though the darkness. If it wasn't for that, he'd also ask why that pony had _it_ as a _friend_.

Near the doors leading outside, there was a metal chest. Inside, he found his backpack. He rummaged through it, and saw that everything was there. A small blanket, some perfect-for-camping-trips Meals Ready to Eat (that tasted like cardboard but killed hunger just perfectly) bought at military surplus store, and an ever-useful first aid kit, all waited to be reclaimed. There was a canteen still filled with water. He was so parched that he immediately emptied half of it, sharing the remaining half with the other pony, who gladly accepted his gift.

Even his headset was there, however a quick test confirmed that it would be impossible to connect to his friends, static on all channels.

Everything he had was there, except that pendant he found one day earlier, back in that cottage in Everfree Forest. Somehow, he expected that. Such a magical artifact was too valuable to be left in his hooves.

He looked as the unnamed pony disengaged another tripwire enchantment, that would've activated if they were to open the doors and rush headlong outside. The magical show amazed him even more than when he saw it for the first time just some moments ago. The stranger shivered again, this time more violently than before.

"So," the teal pony said, his voice serious and determined, a welcome change from all that timidity that his voice was _seeping _with before, "Are you ready to get out of there?"

Adrenaline already pumped in Lanky's veins. He didn't need another incentive.

He opened the doors, slowly. The unoiled hinges creaked, but thanks to their carefulness, it was quiet enough not to gather anypony's undue attention. The attention of the Royal Guard was the last thing they wanted.

He peeked through the doors. The first thing he felt was a cold draft. The nighttime air felt so refreshing, that after taking a quick peek to see if there were any guards nearby, Lanky took a deep breath, savoring every particle.

The general look-and-feel contrasted the dampness of the dungeon. The torches on the walls back there cast everything in soft, orange glow. But that corridor that was outside looked regal, stained glass windows and marble columns everywhere they could see. The contrast between the dimly-lit prison and unlit corridors of the Canterlot Palace made him not see as well as usual, but after a few seconds, his eyes adapted to the darkness.

After confirming again that there were no guards outside, Lanky took a deep breath, and made a single step outside.

Right into the unknown.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Took me some time. I really hope I'll manage to write next chapters faster than that one.

And the plot thickens. This chapter was a little bit heavy on the dialogue side, I know, I know...

And one more thing: Neigh-gothic: Neigh, as in a sound a pony makes, and gothic, as in gothic letters. To be precise, I was thinking something along the lines of Blackletter/Fraktur.

So, what do you think? Did you like it? Did you like it, but there was something that was simply wrong? Or did you dislike it? Please, give me your opinion in the review. I want to make this story good, therefore I'd love some constructive feedback!

Also, thanks to my betareaders (Periphery, Mamoo and TFSuperfan) and to those who reviewed & tracked the 1st chapter. I really, _really_ appreciate that. It means a lot to me.


	4. Chapter 3: Paradise Lost, pt 1

"_Memories and possibilities are ever more hideous than realities."_

_- H.P. Lovecraft_

**Birthright**

**Chapter 3: Paradise Lost, pt. 1**

Manehattan city was a love-it-or-hate-it place, and Green Leaf already _despised_ the sprawling metropolis that was the capitol of Terra, the earth pony country. It was also called 'the city of contrasts', and if there was something she appreciated, it was the lack of any unnecessary gradients. She liked things simple.

For example, the sheer size of the city was _suffocating _her. The blanket of buildings covered the ground from the very seafront of Przewalski's bay, and stretched for many kilometers into the continent. Thankfully, there were parks, green blotches contrasting against the metallic grays and other industrial colors of the city, and only thanks to these the city managed to live somehow. The settlement was not only wide, but also tall. The grand skyscrapers, rising many meters into the sky, almost reaching the stars... Every time she had to go to the city, she was afraid of these unnatural constructions. She felt somewhat more comfortable at the outskirts of the city, where the buildings were much, much smaller. She was born, and lived through her life in a small agriculture-centered town called Windy Hills. Like in Manehattan, there were machines, there were shops, there were asphalt roads... But it was the scale she had problems understanding. It was all too big.

Another thing she disliked was the rain. Oh, the everlasting torrential downpour... Simply _depressing_. According to the weather census, there were on average about fifteen days in a year when it didn't rain, and about eight additional days when it didn't rain _and_ had sun break through the cloud-covered sky. Green Leaf still couldn't comprehend how the populace managed to live there for so long, even maintaining relatively low suicide rate for such a gigantic city with such an awful environment. Every time she asked a passerby why they even wanted to live there, making it clear that she was a merely a tourist, each replied that after some time, everypony gets used to the rain and simply stops noticing it altogether. The reply, however, didn't answer anything, and instead it raised a whole lot of related queries that she couldn't find any explanation for anywhere.

There was of course that one question she already knew an answer to – "_what was in their minds when they settled there in the first place?"_ In the city, there were some theories that attempted to give a good explanation. Many thought that it was a only cruel joke played by their ancestors. Some voiced an opinion that the forest that covered the land there a long time ago made it a convenient spot to start building, having the necessary materials so nearby. Someponies mentioned that the city probably started as a small agricultural village, thanks to the long-bygone rich soil, but that explanation also had a lot of holes within. In the end, maybe every theory was equivalent – each holding a grain of truth, but not fully true?

But there was another, rather disapproved theory that stated that long ago, pegasus ponies had the capabilities to control the weather, which prompted the settlers to start building there, taking it for granted that the situation would never change. The hypothesis was negated by the fact that almost nopony in Terra believed that it was ever possible for pegasi to fight back against nature. Magic, what a preposterous thing!

That theory, she disliked the most. Green Leaf simply knew better. She was a pegasus, after all, and she knew that her ancestors could control the weather. But, so long after the Shift, it was a knowledge that almost faded away, and although it was spoken of in tales, it was remembered as fact only by the chosen few.

But if there was one thing only that she liked in thit city, it was its public transit system. The metro train that she was traveling inside now was so nice, so comfortable, so _warm_. Also, she loved how fast she could travel within the city thanks to the complicated network of metro tunnels and underground-to-surface terminals. She, being a pegasus, had an appreciation for speed on a genetical level. If it weren't for how useless their wings were now, she'd be soarin' high in the sky right this instant.

But every good thing must come to an end, and soon she heard a loud DING!, the train's loudspeaker system announcing that she had arrived where she needed to be.

"NOW ARRIVING AT: TROTWORTH STREET STATION. NOW ARRIVING AT: TROTWORTH STREET STATION. NEXT STOP: ..."

She didn't hear what the next stop would be, nor did she care. No matter how warm it was inside, she had to do what she had come here for. The moment the doors of the train slid open, she jumped off, onto the platform. Her hooves made a loud clack when they connected with the concrete of the terminal, but the sound went unheard. Even though it was almost midnight, the station was full. So many earth ponies, businesscolts, mothers, juveniles: the noise made by the crowd that flocked there made it hard to hear her own thoughts.

But that was to be expected. Manehattan never slept. Nopony could ever feel alone in that gargantuan city. Or so it seemed. She was a pegasus. _An alien._ Even though the heavy raincoat she was wearing all the time, as did the rest of the inhabitants, obscured such minor details as her wings, the mental barrier was still there, and she was afraid of all these earth ponies she was surrounded by now.

In the city of so many ponies, she felt alone. That was even more depressing that the rain that ever fell down from the sky here. But she wasn't here to mingle, and thus, she didn't entertain that thought.

When she rode the escalator that would carry her from the underground terminal to the surface, she could feel the temperature getting colder; she also started to hear the pitter-patter of the rain. With each meter she rode, it was getting worse and worse.

And then she finally got outside. Luckily for her, today's weather was almost perfect; the rain was unusually light. But even despite that it was merely the beginning of autumn, the unexpectedly cold temperature for this time of the year made it so that every drop that hit her face stung like a needle.

But that wouldn't be for much longer. Although she didn't exactly know the city and its layout, there was a route that she had traversed often, and now she instinctively moved there. There were some ponies on the streets, minding their own business, but she trotted around; a pegasus on the streets of Manehattan was a pretty rare sight, and the less interested others were in her, the better. Although her wings weren't visible, it wouldn't be that difficult to guess that she wasn't an earth pony, for her moves were pegasian: fluid and full of grace. She appeared to be flying, with her hooves firm on the ground.

It didn't takk her long to circumnavigate the buildings, and soon she found herself near the entrance to one of numerous ten-story high, glass-pane covered city flats. An interesting fact about that one peculiar building was that, there was a club at the basement, and right now, the sounds of some unlistenable techno-music made the walls vibrate.

Although many ponies considered it idiotic to even make such a club in the basement, and someponies, especially those who were living in the aforementioned building, were regularly sending complaints to the landlord, Green Leaf liked that bit of craziness. After all, vibrating walls made it impossible to place a bug that would spy on her when she was discussing top-secret matters with another _educated_ pony like her.

She pressed a button labeled '3' on the intercom, and patiently waited for a response. Soon she heard a shift in the sound in the speaker, from static to quietness. The pony on the other end was waiting for something.

"Swordfish," Green Leaf whispered into the speaker. Judging by the sound, the pony on the other end disconnected. She smiled lightly. Even though she was in haste, she still had some spare time to make such a joke.

She pressed the button once more, and whispered into the speaker.

"Throughout the darkness of the long night we search for the purpose."

The password worked. The glass doors slid open. She was glad to get away from the rain, and into the dry corridor. She shook herself, the droplets of water falling on the floor near her, leaving puddles that shone in the ambient light of the city that seeped through the glass.

She walked down the unlit 1st floor corridor, to the doors marked as "3: Grandstone." She struck the wooden door with her right hoof, the dull sound almost swallowed by the melodies coming from the club below.

The door to the flat opened soon, and Green Leaf saw for a second the face of her friend, Grandstone. However, as soon as that stallion saw her, he quickly jumped back, as if afraid of getting near her.

"Hiya, Ostiary Grandstone!" she greeted him happily, but all she heard back was nothing. She entered his flat despite having no invitation.

When she went inside and closed the door behind her, she noticed that her friend, an all-gray, short-maned earth stallion named Grandstone looked terribly sick. She wanted to ask him what was going on, but as the thought formed in her head, Grandstone sneezed.

"Please, don't get too close to me, I'm sick," he said, words interrupted by coughs and sneezes. His blue eyes were all bloodshot; it was clear that he just woke up from a rather uneasy sleep.

Green Leaf smiled at him, took the raincoat off, and then passed him into the living room, where she placed a small saddlebag on the floor and unceremonially jumped on his couch and stretched herself. Although that blue-ish pegasus, with green eyes, mane and tail, was rather lithe, the old couch squeaked loudly under her weight.

Grandstone, wearing a white, woolen dressing gown, stood near her, his face making a fake expression of disdain.

"Acolyte Green Leaf, don't you think that it's somewhat rude to just barge into somepony's house and fall on somepony's couch just like that?" he said, smiling lightly, as much as his sickened, tired body allowed. "Especially considering I've got a cold? If I didn't know you better, I'd be rather angry right now."

The blue-ish pegasus closed her eyes and smiled widely.

" Hmhmhm... Hmhm... Please, drop the formalities, Grandstone. You don't have to call me acolyte right now. Although I'm coming on official business, I still want to rest for a moment," she said, with a voice that could easily pass as seductive. "Enough talk, got anything to drink? It's past midnight, and we're both still awake, so please, something stronger."

Grandstone opened the cupboard and took out a single bottle. "I've got a bottle of applejack. Good enough?"

Green Leaf's ears perked when he mentioned applejack.

"Let me guess... from Sweet Apple Acres?"

"Sadly, no." Grandstone shook his head, showing how much he'd love to pour her some of her favorite.

He took the bottle in his teeth and poured some alcohol into the glasses. The strong odor wafted out from the container, and Green Leaf inhaled it. Her smile widened even more. She took a sip, and swallowed, applejack going down to her stomach, leaving a burning sensation in her throat.

"Uhhh... Much, much better," she said, now very content. She noticed her earth pony friend cringed when he swallowed his bit, and she couldn't help it but let out a small laugh. "You know what?"

"What?"

"I've been to Sweet Apple Acres recently," Green Leaf answered," about two months ago, and I asked that pony, Ambrosia Apple was her name, if I recall correctly, if she had some good applejack."

Grandstone interrupted her. "Is Sweet Apple Acres still in such a sorry state?"

"...Sadly, yes," the smile vanished from Green Leaf's face. "The farm is somewhat dilapidated. But she still manages to grow some apples. But of course, she takes some from the harvest to brew some good stuff. I bought a bottle. You know what that bottle of applejack from the Acres tasted like?"

"Like how?"

"...Like sweet, sweet irony." The smile appeared again on Green Leaf's face. Grandstone grinned with her. Both considered themselves _educated_ enough to appreciate such humor.

They've talked about their lives for a moment. About their successes and mistakes. But then Grandstone remembered that Green Leaf said something about business, and so he inquired.

"Hmm? Oh, right." Green Leaf responded, "You've been offline for some time. Why's that?"

Grandstone pointed his hoof at the computer terminal that stood in the corner of the living room.

"That thing broke again, and I've been too sick to go out and take it for repairs," he said, sneezing profoundly between almost every word.

"Okay," Green Leaf spoke, her voice suddenly changing the tone, from playfulness to seriousness, "A lot of things have happened recently. Were you to log in to our network, you'd see literal chaos."

"What happened?" Grandstone asked, his voice showing clearly his curiosity.

Green Leaf sighed heavily. "Looks like we've got much to talk about."

She opened her saddlebag, and from it produced a manilla envelope. She took it in her teeth and threw it on the table, almost knocking out accidentally a glass half-filled with applejack.

She opened the envelope, and spilled the contents on the flat surface. Photographs and reports lied scattered in a state of organized chaos.

Grandstone looked at the documents, and noticed, completely unsurprised, that every single scrap of paper bore a mark. A white equilateral triangle with thin black edges and black square on every vertex.

"I don't feel like reading today. My eyes hurt. Would you please entertain me, and tell me what's going on?"

Green Leaf flattened out a map of Equestria.

"Okay, I don't understand it fully myself, but here's the story," she said, her voice making it obvious that she meant business. "About ten hours ago, a powerful thaumaturgical impulse was detected there, in that part of Everfree Forest." She pointed her hoof at letter 'v' in 'Everfree.' "The shockwave was so powerful, that three of our M-Sensors, here, here, and here," -she tapped her hoof three times, each time pointing at another part of the forest- "simply blew up."

"What caused it?"

"Still under investigation. However, it's almost confirmed that a Particle of Harmony has been found." She sighed, and then after a short moment continued, looking deeply into Grandstone's wide-open, shocked eyes, "And that's the point where I stop understanding our mission. Too bad Tree Root has some other mission assigned in Canterlot right now, maybe she could understand what's going on."

Using her hooves, she brought all four photographs at the center of the table. Before the gray stallion could notice what or who was there, Green Leaf already started describing them.

"Okay, now it gets strange. These photographs were taken by an autonomous aerial reconnaissance drone that was sent right after the shock was detected." She pointed her hoof at the first photograph. She began speaking hastily, not allowing her friend to interrupt.

"Remember that scoop from last week? About that private collector of militaria who had much of his equipment stolen? Lookie lookie, we've found the thieves. Identification in progress."

Before Grandstone could take a closer look, she threw the photo away, and brought the next one to the front, which she began describing.

"A brown, unidentified Terran. Name unknown. Interesting thing, scans indicate he's radiating magic like nopony's business. Surprise it didn't kill him. High probability he became Aligned. Also, two fillies, names unknown to us. We've launched an investigation to determine who they are."

Before Grandstone could take a closer look, Green Leaf threw the photo away, uncovering the one that was under.

"Teal-colored pony. Unicorn, with his horn cut off. Name confidential, as our masters have said, on a really-need-to-know basis. That means, until we find a good enough reason, we won't know his name. Nopony else knows anyway."

Grandstone was always irritated by his friend's hastiness, but today she was visibly nervous, and it only made her quirks even worse. She again threw off the photograph, bringing the last one to the front. He was quick enough to put his left hoof at the photo, as to not let his pegasus friend throw that photo away, too.

On that photo, he noticed two earth ponies. The picture was shot at night, but thanks to advanced technology they possessed, it was as if it was taken during the day. Every single detail was clear.

One pony was a gray mare with blonde mane and tail, and the other one was a butter-yellow stallion with short blue mane and tail. He immediately noticed that both had these peculiar _marks_ on their flanks.

"Names are Healer and Siren. From what we've been told, they were Cutie Mark Crusaders, just like us, but for some reason were deemed traitors and sentenced to death. They escaped our justice, and went hiding. We've discovered them just now."

"I think I've heard about them sometime ago. Supposedly, they're quite powerful?" Grandstone asked, smiling. He already felt the excitement.

"Yes. Currently, that teal pony and that brown one are on the Domain's territory, so that gives us some time before we're given a signal, as the other Crusaders stationed there are already on the case, but our mission is, if they were to somehow pass the border and re-enter Terra, we're supposed to guard them silently from Healer and Siren. There's a high probability once Healer and Siren understand what had really happened in the forest, they'll chase them and kill them. No, I don't understand it either, friend, for some reason Grand Master Hemlock is not saying all we should know. By the way, we were told not to engage Healer and Siren in any direct confrontation."

"Why?"

"Orders. We were told, if we were to meet them both, we are to flee. Our masters at the Cathedral told us that we're no match for them. That they would easily kill us."

Grandstone laughed. "How? I've heard some rumors that there were two somewhat skilled ponies that got excommunicated a long time ago for some sort of betrayal, but they really don't look so dangerous, do they?"

Green Leaf resistantly responded.

"I was told that Siren ripped somepony's throat out with her teeth."

* * *

><p>The night was peaceful and quiet, the moon shining just enough to lighten up all the necessary details, while still allowing for many conveniently placed shadows to cover nooks and crannies. Ideal conditions for two ponies trying their best to escape Canterlot Palace.<p>

Lanky and Teal walked very slowly, listening carefully to the surroundings. It was night; during that time, the palace should be completely empty, save for the numerous sentinels from the Royal Guard patrolling the corridors and halls of the Palace.

"_Something's not right... Where are the guards?" _Lanky thought, perplexed as to why everything was going so smoothly. They navigated through the palace, hugging the walls, minds completely focused on listening, stopping every time they heard anything odd that would signal that probably there were guards nearby. But there were no guards. The palace was empty. There were no sounds. It was so quiet there that Lanky could easily discern muffled sounds coming from the Canterlot City.

"Teal...?" Lanky whispered after thorough consideration. His quiet voice violently broke the tranquility and silence that accompanied them. He noticed that Teal, who took the lead, almost jumped, surprised by his sudden voice.

"...Yes?" He whispered back to Lanky, who stopped dead in his tracks and was now looking around, eyes scanning the room they were in.

"...When you were here last time, were there any guards?" He asked, while gazing at a marble statue of a standing, armored unicorn warrior. The spear the statue was holding was pointed right at him. Despite the darkness of the night, the light cast by the moon shone through the stained-glass windows, and bleached pastel colors that were cast upon the statue made it look even more dangerous and intimidating.

Teal thought for a moment, and then said back, in a voice so hushed that Lanky could barely hear him.

"Now that you mention it... It's strange. The palace is empty. It shouldn't be, it's against all regulations."

"So, how did you escape last time?" Lanky asked, his ears perked and wary of the environment, but eyes focused on the masterfully sculpted, terrifyingly intimidating statue.

"I used my magic to make myself invisible." Teal stated, as if it was obvious.

"_You seem awfully competent when it comes to magic. How's that even possible, when all I knew about it is that I've never seen it, and what I know now is that it exists but nopony except you use it?" _Lanky thought, deciding to leave such questions for another occasion, when they would find themselves in more friendly environment.

"_Wait. Do you even remember the way around?"_ Lanky thought, then asked Teal a similarly worded question.

"I do... But... Sorry, we're not escaping... Yet. I hope it's okay with you."

Lanky went aghast. In the last possible moment he restrained himself, otherwise dead-silent halls of Canterlot Palace would know how his scream sounds.

"What." He managed to whisper somehow, barely controlling his tone. His ears perked instinctively, his subconsciousness realizing that he might've attracted some unwanted guests.

Teal smirked. "If I told you that I've got myself a good opportunity here, would you agree to play around Canterlot? Now that I'm here, I might do one more thing."

"Let me guess... There's another eldritch abomination somewhere in the palace, right?" Lanky allowed himself a smile. Somehow, that Discord fella, _whatever it was_, didn't appear scary anymore, now that they were both rather far away from the dungeon where he was imprisoned.

Despite his smile, Teal's expression went sad.

"...Yes. You've got it."

"So, where are we going?" Lanky tilted his head. His words were calm, but his thoughts were raging, _"More importantly, WHAT DO YOU EXACTLY KNOW AND WHAT ARE YOU DOING. AND EVEN BETTER QUESTION: WHO, OR WHAT ARE YOU?"_

"To the throne room. It shouldn't be that far away," the teal unicorn didn't even look at his brown earth pony companion. He just went his way, Lanky slowly following him.

* * *

><p>Canterlot never slept. It was always lit. However, candles and torches weren't exactly powerful. Alone, these sources of light shone weakly, but en-masse, the glow coming from the city seeped through, and into the unlit Palace.<p>

Lanky and Teal slowly walked through the corridor that apparently lead to the throne room, where Princess Celestia and Queen Luna, the eternal rulers of Luna's Domain resided. The stained glasses overlooked the Mythical City on the Hill, and ambient glow shone through the glass. The shadows flickered, moved on the walls, on the statues of various unicorns and pegasus ponies. Thanks to that, it appeared as if these marble representations of legendary heroes and great ancestors moved every time Lanky saw them in the corner of his eyes. It unnerved him. He felt as if he was being watched, as if some soul, probably benevolent in nature monitored his every step.

Only such an explanation made sense to Lanky. Their escape was going smoothly. _Too smooth._ During their escape, they met nopony else. The palace was deserted. Numerous times, Lanky heard some sounds in the distance, hooves stomping on red carpets that lied everywhere in Canterlot Palace, but near them, nothing. As if somehow guards _knew_ where the duo was, and were trying their best to avoid a teal unicorn and a brown long-maned Terran.

That was the worst thing. Lanky didn't know what was happening. On the exterior, his posture faked calmness and wariness, ears and eyes scanning the area, but inside, he was terrified. Afraid of the unknown, afraid of Canterlot, and rather ironically afraid of the lack of knowledge why all the guards weren't chasing them right now.

There was another thing that made him confused and petrified from fear. Smell.

With every step that they made, the odor became progressively stronger, to the point that Lanky retched. He noticed that somehow the smell made Teal cringe, too.

The smell of something dirty, unwashed, _decaying. _

Lanky and Teal were now slowly, very slowly walking on another one of numerous red carpets, that one leading right to the massive oaken doors of the Royal Chamber. The sound of their hoofsteps was muffled, but the acoustic properties of a grand hall that they were in right now amplified the effect, to the point that even their breaths became audible. Lanky noticed that, and in his mind, he was happy that the effect didn't amplify smells.

The moment they both came near the doors, the odor became unbearable. Lanky could barely stand it. Teal, on the other hoof, made nothing of this inconvenience, and without any delay started disengaging a powerful tripwire that guarded the gates that protected Princess Celestia and Queen Luna from the rest of the world. It took him two minutes of hard work, the smell of ozone somewhat alleviating the odors, and after he was done, the teal pony almost toppled over, overexerted.

The doors creaked. Judging from the sound they made, its hinges weren't oiled in a very long time.

* * *

><p>Lanky remembered how he was taught when he was but a small colt. According to all known knowledge, Luna's Domain was ruled by an immortal Queen Luna and her sister, Princess Celestia.<p>

"_What a load of manure,"_ he thought everytime that topic was mentioned. Nopony in Terra knew anything about them, except the Symposium, Terra's governing body. And it was highly probable even they never met the apparent rulers of the second half of Divided Equestria.

But some things were known. The alicorns as they were called were never seen even by the Domain's populace, maintaining control over their half of Equestria via the Synod, but various icons and representations depicted them as beautiful, ever-gracious creatures, two absurdly powerful and enchanting mares that combined the best qualities of unicorns and pegasi in their bodies, possessing both wings and horns. They were said to be so powerful as to be able to control the sun and the moon.

But what Lanky was seeing before his very own eyes was radically different. The facade has been broken, all lies uncovered.

The place they both were in right that moment was called a Royal Chamber, also known as the throne room. But there was no throne from which Queen Luna would be ruling her country. Instead, there were two beds. And, in Lanky's words, quite a hayload of various medical equipment and health monitoring systems.

On the medical beds right in the middle of the room, two beautiful mares slept uneasily. One was a tall, thin, dirty-white pony with a set of very large wings and quite a long, sharp horn, much longer and much sharper than those of a typical unicorn. Her unkept, bluish-pink mane was long enough to touch the floor.

A shorter, but also very tall dark-blue alicorn was lying on her bed that was next to her sister's. Lanky immediately recognized her as Queen Luna. He also was sure that the mare on the other bed was Princess Celestia.

They were said to be noble. To be powerful. But all he saw was a parody of power.

The smell came from them. They were dirty, bodies glistening from sweat. It was cold, but they were all damp, heads-to-flank. He noticed that various patches of fur was manged, a number of already-healed bedsores adorned their bodies. He touched them: they were stone-cold.

But even more terrifying was the machinery. In their mouths, various tubes were inserted, connected to the rebreathers that provided them with fresh, breathable air, their chests visibly rising up each time one particularly big machine blew oxygen into them. Numerous IV needles were stung in their bodies, various chemicals and medicaments seeping into their bloodstream. One catheter was clearly labeled as 'liquid intravenous nutrition'.

The lower halves of their bodies were covered by thin white sheets. Lanky hesitated, but uncovered the one that was lying on Celestia's body.

He immediately noticed the mark on her flank, a big, yellow sun.

"_Is that a mark of royalty? Were all the ponies I've met royalty?" h_e asked himself, absolutely unknowing what these marks meant.

Right then, he had noticed that there were more IV's inserted under the sheet, many cables that connected various sensors glued to their bodies to the monitoring computers, and... _oh manure.._. _more tubes... stuck up...!_

"Yes, Lanky. Those tubes are body waste disposal systems. Just everything you need to support life functions of two barely immortal entities," Teal said calmly, while rummaging the cluttered room, apparently looking for something. He didn't even turn his head when he said that, expecting his brown pony companion to ask such a question.

Lanky excused himself, went into the corner of the room and promptly threw up the half-digested hay he was given right before the trial.

He'd been too eager to see the princess and the queen before his very own eyes. The instant he entered the chamber, he hadn't even looked inside, just galloped to the center, where he thought he would find them. He didn't know then what would he say when the time would finally come, but that wouldn't be a problem. _"Hi, Queen Luna, sorry for interrupting you in your own chamber, I'm no random assassin if that's what's on your mind, thanks for sentencing me for death by the way! What was that for?" _

But that all was in vain. Now he could clearly see that Luna and Celestia were not even capable of making such decisions.

From the corner of the room, he shot a long glance, to see what was inside.

The contrast within was so enormous, that it somehow surpassed the most surreal paintings Lanky saw back in Manehattan. The gigantic room looked so _royal_ that merely being inside made him feel, no, made him literally nobilitated. Marble columns chiseled from _just ideal, perfect _stone, and embroidered red carpets masterfully crafted from an expensive material. The windows were hermetically covered by silk curtains, except one that overlooked the moon high in the sky, the light shining into the room and illuminating it with a weak glow. And there was a small water fountain in one corner of the room, the water silently falling into a grid that redistributed the water to many pots with various green, ideally cut plants.

The balance between the beautiful and the ugly was staggering. By now, his sense of smell had been sufficiently dulled out, making him almost immunized to the odors. But the chamber was still hideous.

The room was cluttered. On a heightened portion of the room, there were two beds hosting the royal pair, surrounded by all these medical devices. Many cables lied on the floor, interconnecting the machinery and the power grid. The beeps and other various noises coming from the monitors made the place unusually loud. Other than that, the place was filled with some cardboard boxes, each one closed.

Lanky took a breath, and the moment when he was going to ask Teal something, the other one said, quite loudly. "Whatever you do, don't touch that photo at the wall, and don't touch that mare behind the royal pedestal. The photo is protected by a tripwire I was never able to disengage, and touching that mare will make us all dead."

"_What the hay is he talking about." _Lanky immediately turned his head around, to find out about what mare and what photo the stranger had just mentioned. Half of his question was answered a second after.

First thing he saw was the photograph, set in a frame made from goldened wood. It was positioned on the portion on the wall near the place where he emptied his stomach, right on his eye-level. Careful not to touch it, he stared, his eyes struggling to make out the details in the darkness of the night.

The ancient photo had faded over time, but despite that, the colors were still visible. There were eight ponies. He immediately recognized the royal sisters, Luna and Celestia, but the names of the other six mares were unknown to him. There were two Terrans, one pink-coated with frilly mane and the other one orange with long, straight blonde mane. There were also two unicorns, one lavender and the other one snow-white with blue, highly stylized mane. And two pegasi, one cyan with... '_rather interesting choice of colors, probably dye,'_ Lanky thought, and the other one was Fluttershy.

"_Wait. What."_

He focused his vision on the butter-yellow coated pony with long, pink mane and tail.

"_Okay, Lanky, think, something is wrong. How in the hay did I know her name? I've never ever heard such a name, 'Fluttershy,' so how do I know her?"_

She seemed so familiar, so close to him that he knew her name, but that would be impossible. The brown Terran sat on his haunches, closed his eyes and began massaging his temples with his hooves, a process which he personally believed helped him concentrate.

After a few minutes of thinking, he stood up, dissatisfied with that he couldn't say how in the hay was he able to recognize her name. All he felt was that otherworldly feeling, not unlike déjà vu. But that was all. He couldn't find out why he had such a thought, neither could he confirm whether that pony's name really was Fluttershy or whether it was only his imagination.

Looking back at the framed photograph, he noticed one detail that escaped his initial stare. A bronze plaque was screwed into the wall, below the frame. On it, a barely legible, italicized sentence was etched. Lanky read the text aloud.

"_A circle of friends we'll be till the very end." _

From the other side of the room, Teal said in an emotionless, informative tone, loud enough for Lanky to hear.

"Looks like their friendship was fake. A few hardships and it all fell apart, like a house made of cards."

Lanky turned around, facing the clutter again. The teal stranger, his back turned to Lanky, was right now holding a knife, cutting through a tape-sealed cardboard box. A stack of already checked boxes was set upon his right, and another, even larger pile of still unopened containers to his left.

"Are you watching my every step?" Lanky's voice was rough, his throat already dry, but it still managed to convey a complex mix of emotions: rage, fear, confusion and uncertainty. He was barely keeping his mind intact. He knew that even if he, by some sort of miracle, got back to his home in Manehattan, his life would never be the same. He now thought he knew how the world worked. His sanity was barely holding together.

Teal ignored the query. "When you finish sightseeing the room, could you please help me check these boxes?"

Lanky harrumph'ed, and walked unsteadily back to the center of the room, where the beds were. He felt the cold breeze when he passed the sleeping royal sisters, and looked at the place in the room that was behind the beds, 'til now obscured from his view.

Behind the beds, behind the racks of medical instruments, there was almost nothing. Almost. Between the platform and the windows a lime-colored, blue-maned unicorn filly was sitting on her haunches, eyes closed. He was quick to notice that her horn cast a faint glow.

He slowly walked to the unicorn. She looked young, much younger than his two friends, Red and Sweet. She was so beautiful, that the brown pony could feel his heart beating faster just by being there. Eager to see her closer, he walked, slowly. However, for some unexplainable reason, he was afraid of her.

He observed her from distance, keeping in mind what Teal had said. It didn't make sense to him. Nothing did. The situation he got himself in, the absurdity of the events, and now, uncovering the dirty secrets of Canterlot: all of it made him feel incredibly tired. His mind was not operating well. Thoughts were processed slower than usual. He needed rest, and the royal chamber was not the best place for that.

But his mind was still going strong, just enough.

"What is she doing there?"

Teal still browsed through the endless stack of scrolls he poured from one box.

"Powering up all that magic in Canterlot." he said in a strange tone that was both sad and dry at the same time.

"Umh... what?"

Teal turned his head towards Lanky, but his eyes weren't staring at him, instead looking sadly at the floor.

"...Oh. Sorry. I forgot you don't know anything about magic."

"Yes. I don't."

Teal sighed. "Do you want me to tell you?"

"Well, why not? I don't think it'll be any worse than knowing how the Domain really works, would it be?"

To Lanky's surprise, he noticed a few very subtle details about Teal. His voice seemed collected, but was breaking a little. A single tear rolled on his cheek; he was on the verge of crying.

"In short. World can't support magic anymore. You know that, right?"

Lanky nodded. That much he did know.

"But Canterlot utilizes magic, as you've noticed, right?" Teal was almost crying. Lanky was still resisting, but somehow, the sick atmosphere of the place wasn't as nerve-draining as seeing a pony his age get all teary-eyed.

"Luna and Celestia need magic to survive. There's barely any magic left in the world, only vestiges of it in the unicorns. "

Until then, Teal wasn't looking straight in the brown pony's eyes, but suddenly, the teal stranger's eyes focused right onto Lanky's.

"Do you know how much using magic hurts us? Do you?" Teal's voice was rising, pain filling his every word. But all Lanky could do was to shake his head. He wasn't a unicorn, he could only guess.

Suddenly, Teal's voice went low again. "Average unicorn forced to become food for these two alicorns survives about three weeks," he looked at the mare, "I'm guessing this one has about week to live."

Lanky recoiled, as if he was shot. He turned his head to that mare, back to Teal, back to the lime unicorn, back to the teal pony... His mind was as blank as his flank. His mouth went dry. After a long moment he stopped, and looked at the mare.

"Isn't there anything we can do?" he whispered, maintaining control over his emotions against all odds.

Teal shook his head. "No. There isn't. The only thing you can do is forget. She's going to die. As many before her and many that will come after her. And you know what? Nopony will ever remember her name. They die anonymously."

The teal unicorn turned around and began walking slowly towards the boxes. Lanky heard a single drop falling on the marble. And another. And another. Teal was crying.

"Teal?"

Teal didn't turn back. "Yes?"

"...I don't want to be here for a second longer. I want to get out."

Teal responded after a few long seconds. Enough for both of them to calm down just a little. "I understand, Lanky. Please, help me find one thing, and we'll be getting out of here."

Lanky tilted his head, looking quizzically at his companion. "What are you looking for?"

"If that's okay with you... These boxes contain various memorabilia of Princess Celestia and Queen Luna. Stored here because of personal value these things hold for them. I'm looking for a document. It's titled 'Royal Edict Number 24'. Find it, and I promise we'll be getting out soon."

Lanky looked back at the mare one more time. He felt as if somepony stabbed him with a knife. But he understood that looking at her would only damage his sanity further. He shot a last glance and turned around, slowly dragging his body to the boxes. _"The faster I help him get what he wants, the better for both of us."_

But by the time he got to Teal, only two boxes remained, and the unicorn with his horn cut off was already browsing through papers. Teal shrugged, feeling that this action helped him a little with all the stress, and opened the last box.

There were a lot of yellowed papers and scrolls inside, each appearing to be so old that only a miracle prevented these from simply turning into dust. Lanky skimmed these, not reading them but focusing only on the titles and on the single words in the middle of the texts, repeating them in his mind.

" _'Tax return'... 'Fillydelphia waterworks construction details'... 'Diamond Dogs extermination procedures'... What? Move on, Lanky, move on, you don't want to read that... 'Barley harvest statistics'... 'Gemstone quarry'... 'Fluttershy'."_

The moment his eyes caught the word that was familiar but totally unknown, he stopped.

"_Fluttershy, that name again! What's that? Who's she?"_

Eager to know more about that mare from the photo, he began reading the long letter, written on a scroll that was almost falling apart from the old age.

_Thirteenth of October, 1428 ER_

_My Dearest Applejack_

_To be honest with you, I'm not really sure why I'm writing this letter. I'm not. After all you've said, after all you've done to us, we think the best course of action would be to beat you up. You deserve that. Really. If words do not speak to you, maybe some hoof-on-face action will? Maybe you're stronger than us, maybe you'd buck us all to hay and back, experienced after so many applebuck seasons, but at least we'd try, and believe us, it'll be damn worth it. I'm tired already, words are not getting through to you anymore. I don't know what to do..._

_Do you think that opposing us is a good idea? You really think that? Do you even realize exactly how much pain you're inflicting to Fluttershy? Have you even spoken to her recently, or is your head stuck so high up your royal flank that you no longer want to see her? _

_Do you really think that your idiotic opinions are worth her pain, her suffering? Have you even seen her recently? Have you witnessed her pain? Isn't there even a single strand of empathy in your body? _

_Wait. Did I just write 'your idiotic opinions'? That's ironic. Those are not even your thoughts anymore! Stop listening to Big Mac, he's influencing you too much! I think you're no longer acting on your own, that you're trying to bear his problems as yours! I know lines of blood are drawn thick, but sometimes... Eh, I don't think you'll ever understand that. _

_And there's another thing. I've visited Octavia recently. As you probably know via your dense brother, she's getting better. Yes, she's still paralyzed. Yes, her hindlegs are not functioning at all. Yes, her spine is still broken. But the doctors we've spoken to promised us to get her better. If not magic, maybe their technology will finally help her?_

_I spent a few hours with her. She was lying there, in the pristinely white bed in the Manehattan clinic. She looked so weak, so defeated, so frail that even a single touch could shatter her like a porcelain doll. _

_But despite her own suffering, she said that one thing that we were waiting for. Octavia told me that she forgives Fluttershy. That it was nothing but an unfortunate accident. Of course, as soon as she told us, we relayed that to our poor Flutter. Can you even believe, what it felt like to see her smile after all she's been through? In the end, it alleviated her pain a little. A little. She's still suffering, but at least one burden has been taken off her. It helps us too. It makes us feel better. It takes one ray of hope to shine on us all. _

_But you're like that damn cloud, blotting out the sun, not allowing the crop to grow. In these dark times, I'm going to break one of my most sacred promises, and I'm going to tell you what my, no, our friends have said to me in secret about you. I won't tell exact words, because I'd be repeating what I've already written in the letter, but in the end, they all want to smack you so you'd finally come to your senses. Yes, even Spike. He's writing this letter, and I can see it for myself that he's barely containing his emotions ( That's right – Spike ). _

_I'm tired, AJ. We all are. You are so out of character I don't know what's going on with you. What ever happened to you? I know all the things in the letter were spoken in anger, but I hope, I really do, that you'll finally see reason. Please, come back to us. Applejack._

_Yours truly_

_Pinkamena Diane Pie_

_PS: If you want to fix it, apologize to Fluttershy first. If you'd like to meet us anyway, we'll be in Manehattan, Grasspoint Hotel, room 275. Then, you'll have to go to Canterlot and speak to Ambassador Gilda, because as scheduled, we'll be moving to Triavenon for the next testing stage, whether you like it or not._

_PSS: We'll be the architects of a new age. Don't you ever forget that._

_PSSS: The party in my head has died. I barely cope with all that, you know?_

_Spike here, just want to add something: I'm a dragon. You're a pony. Usually, it should be the other way around, but right now? I'm afraid of you. Yes. I'm a dragon, and I'm terrified of you, of what you've become, AJ._

* * *

><p>There was something in that letter. So ethereal, so emotional, that Lanky could feel the anger and sadness that transcended time, embedded in this ancient scroll that had almost deteriorated thanks to countless ages that passed.<p>

Then, he realized that Teal was breathing down on his neck, from behind. Lanky shuddered, creeped out.

"A little personal space, if I may," the brown pony said in a tone so dry that the moisture in the air suddenly disappeared.

The teal pony mumbled something, the words not clear but the tone clearly showing embarrassment, and moved back a little.

Lanky read the letter again. And again. He felt a strange, magical familiarity with the names, but he only was able to understand a little from the text. Fluttershy, the name he seemed to knew. It took him some time to remember from history classes that ER stood for Equestrian Reckoning, the year-counting system that was used by the ponies before The Shift. Triavenon was a capitol of the Griffin Kingdom, the only ally of Terra, and everypony knew that. Manehattan he knew well since his foalhood, but he never had heard about Grasspoint Hotel.

But except these four definitions, he understood nothing. The letter was an enigma. An enigma he was eager to solve.

"Teal?"

The stranger said shyly. "Yes?"

"What's that letter? Do you know?"

Teal looked at the letter. He quickly skimmed over the contents.

"...Sorry, I wish I knew. But I do recognize one thing."

"_Let me guess... the name, 'Fluttershy'?" _The brown pony thought, but didn't raise the topic.

"The date. I know that it was written approximately nine months before the Shift."

As much as he did trust the stranger, Lanky's mind instantly questioned his knowledge.

"_How in the hay do you know that? What else do you know?"_

But his voice once again played with him, hiding what he really felt behind a mask of friendship.

"Whoa, that's quite old! Okay, Teal, do you know anything else about that? Any names you recognize?"

"Sorry, I don't remember anything else..."

"So that makes it. Sorry, I didn't find that docu-" Lanky then noticed that a scrap of paper had adhered itself to the back of the letter he had just read. He swiftly detached it. It was no random thing, but another, very short message. The paper it was written on also appeared old, but was newer by a very small degree.

* * *

><p><em>Celestia.<em>

_You lied to us. You should have told us what it all would entail.  
><em>

_I'd rather let Discord rule the land than suffer you spinning your dirty intrigues. Even letting Nightmare Moon win would be better, you know? _

_If I knew what would happen, we would never ever play your bucking game._

_You traitor. _

_I hope you'll someday understand what have you done, now die_

_Twilight Sparkle_

* * *

><p>This letter also appeared to carry a certain emotional value that Lanky felt despite the ages. Anger. Rage. Negative feelings, combined with the depression that the long-maned brown pony had acquired during their stay at the royal chamber made him almost unbearably sad. For reasons he didn't understand, a single vision flashed before his eyes. For a second, he had seen a butter-yellow coated pegaus pony with pink mane and tail, and what creeped Lanky most, her wings made of metal, looking straight at him, her eyes showing pain and fear. Fluttershy disappeared as mysteriously as she appeared, and Lanky recoiled, as if shocked.<p>

Teal noticed that, but didn't react. Instead, he looked inside the box Lanky was checking beforehoof. But it was empty. All papers, all items have been already researched, and the document he was looking for wasn't there.

The brown Terran realized that it was all. There was no reason for them to stay there for any longer. But there was still one question that had to be asked.

"Teal, what was that document that you were searching for? Was it important?"

Teal responded, a clear hint of hesitation in his words.

"...If that's okay with you... I don't remember why was I looking for that document. My mind is fragmented. I know many things, but none of these have any context. I know that I was searching for that edict, but I don't know why. I thought that it would help me find out who I am."

Something clicked. It was Lanky's mind. Till now, he was calm. Despite the odds, he was still collected. But that response opened the floodgates, otherworldly rage filling him quickly.

"SO WHY ARE WE EVEN HERE? FOR WHAT?"

The teal-colored unicorn shivered. "P-please, Lanky, calm down..."

But that request didn't even register in the brown pony's mind. He just trotted nervously around the room, hollering at Teal, not giving a thought whether any guards would hear. All that mattered to him right now was getting out his bottled anger.

"YOU DRAG ME HERE, ALL THE WAY FROM EVERFREE! WE GET SENTENCED TO DEATH! WE TRY TO ESCAPE, AND FIND OUT THAT THE RULERS OF THE DOMAIN ARE... CORPSES! BUCKIN' ALIVE CORPSES!"

Teal began crying. The surreal sight only angered the brown pony more.

"THESE MACHINES! YOU KNOW WHAT'S THE PROBLEM WITH THESE MACHINES! THE COMPANY I WORK FOR MAKES THESE! IT'S TERRAN TECHNOLOGY! AND ON TOP OF THAT, YOU CRYFOAL, THERE ARE NO GUARDS! HOW'S THAT EVEN POSSIBLE!"

"I-," Teal squeaked, and by a miracle Lanky understood that single, barely comprehensible stream of letters.

"...Explain."

Teal gasped, desperately trying to catch his breath. The anger Lanky simply radiated made him stop breathing, so powerful it was. After a few deep breaths, Teal spoke, voice shaking.

"A-About a few minutes before I disabled the guards in the dungeon, I detected somepony else doing the same thing on massive scale in Canterlot Palace."

The gravity of these words hit the Terran pony like a sledgehammer.

"You mean, somepony's helping us?"

Teal nodded. A simple gesture, but it broke down the tension a little.

"Yes. Somepony's very skilled. Barely any unicorn is capable of infiltrating Canterlot and capable of using so much magic in so little time."

Lanky grinned. "And now, you're going to tell me, who that pony is."

"...No. Sorry. I don't know who that is or why that pony is helping us."

The brown pony let out a laugh. In teal pony's mind, it was the worst, most creepy one, like a madman who had just realized how insane he is.

"Do you even know anything else?" To drive the point further, and to spend some anger, Lanky raised a left foreleg and hit the wall. Teal opened his mouth, but it was too late. The sound of breaking glass hushed every other one in the room.

Lanky had smashed the photo. The glass covering the picture of eight mares was cracked. He felt the cold sweat that began dripping from him. He looked at Teal. He was shocked.

"Y-you idiot," the teal pony whispered, "you've triggered the tripwire. In a moment all the guards in the castle who are not under the spell will be on our heads. We've gotta run, now."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

So, you've read first and second chapter. And I know exactly what you were thinking.

"_OC story... How boring! I want to read something about Mane 6! I don't care about OC's!"_

And then, you've read this chapter. I believe the contents of these two letters proved to be quite shocking...

If you were thinking it was an OC story, perish that thought! ...Partially, I mean.

It's half OC story, and half 'the main cast' story. The main purpose of previous chapters was to establish the characters, their motives, the setting, the world, etc.

And this chapter binds my characters to the main cast.

A long time passed, but Mane 6, Luna, Celestia, Octavia, Big Mac, CMC, Gilda, and other characters from the Equestria's ancient past left quite a legacy. Their actions might have shaped the current world, or might have not. And now, in order to save Equestria from mortal danger (that only a few _educated_ ponies are aware of right now), the main characters of that story will have to rediscover their heritage and their involvement in past events.

The world is broken, but there is still some hope.

The real story begins now.

Next chapter coming as soon as I write it. Goddamn, I love simple excuses.

And all my thanks go to Periphery, for proofreading the chapter. Thank you!


	5. Chapter 3: Paradise Lost, pt 2

**Birthright**

**Chapter 3: Paradise Lost, pt. 2: Escape, Methinks...**

"Y-you idiot," the teal pony whispered, "you've triggered the tripwire. In a moment all the guards in

the castle who are not under the spell will be on our heads. We've gotta run, now."

It took a few seconds for the sentence to register itself in Lanky's mind. His head was turning around, focus hopping from the cracked photo to Teal and back again, finally focusing on the heavy wooden gates that divided the throne room from the rest of the castle the moment he understood the severity of the situation. The muscles in his legs flexed, preparing themselves for a sudden, fast gallop. His mind went chaotic, instinct taking control over the rational parts of his brain.

"Stop." Teal interrupted in a voice that was meek, but included something that halted Lanky's body, reacting with his mind on a subconscious level. The sudden relaxation of his muscles made him lose his balance, his legs struggling against gravity to regain his vertical stance.

Teal closed his eyes, and the stump on his head began glowing again with a weak, almost unnoticeable ambient-blue light. The sizzling sound that usually accompanied his spells was quiet, Lanky's irregular breaths hushing it out. The scent of ozone mixed itself with the awful odors of the room, in Lanky's opinion improving the quality of air a little, but not enough.

He wanted to ask what was going on, but before he opened his mouth, Teal responded in a dry, informative voice, "Manure, the spells are slowly wearing out."

A raspy "What?" was the only thing that came out of the brown pony's throat.

"It's going to be harder than I thought. Even the guards that are under the mind-control spell are drawn there," Teal said, turning his head to Lanky, "so it's going to be interesting."

Lanky chuckled involuntarily. "Interesting?"

Teal ignored the query, and focused, the spell forming again, releasing strong wafts of ozone into the air. After a second, the magic suddenly ended, and Teal grinned, in a manner that reminded Lanky of Siren, the teeth-baring smile of a mad pony. Lanky observed Teal's nervous movements. The hornless unicorn was looking eagerly at the massive oaken gate that protected them from the guards outside.

"Okay, Lanky, listen," Teal spoke softly and timidly, but with a tinge of power and absolute control, the unnatural gradient between his faked calmness and the atmosphere of the situation making Lanky's sanity more than brittle, "You're faster and more agile than me. Don't wait for me, I'll fare much better than you."

Teal smiled at Lanky, unaware how damaging such an unnatural gesture was, and then eyed the gateway again, his eyes seemingly focusing on something that lied behind the barrier.

"Lanky, focus now, and remember. Left, left, straight, right, and then straight into the city," Teal turned his focus on Lanky again, and then closed his mouth. What Lanky felt next was pain, a kind of a headache he had never experienced before, strange, painful but totally lucid at the same time.

"And from now on, I'll be communicating with you telepathically, Lanky," the words appearing somewhere inside the brown Terran's mind, Teal's voice creepily echoing throughout his mind, thoughts, and memory, "and as you've noticed it hurts. Don't worry, it hurts me more."

As the transmission finished, the pain suddenly disappeared, only to reappear again, much to Lanky's dismay.

"Okay, there's no time for idle chit-chat, the guards are closing in. Don't worry about me, I'll manage. Don't worry about yourself," the teal pony continued the painful, soundless form of communication, "there's confusion in the ranks. You can outrun them easily. Remember, Left, left, straight, right, straight into the city."

Lanky whinnied, flexing his muscles. "So, when we'll open the doors?" He asked, readying himself to gallop. But the answer had almost thrown him off-balance.

"Whomever said we'll go through the doors?" Teal answered telepathically, his calm, meek voice laced with a strange kind of _excitement_ echoing in his brain, "We'll teleport through."

Before the brown pony could gasp out another '_what?', _he felt every atom of his body fire up, a feeling not unlike being tingled by liquid fire. A powerful, painful white light flashed, blinding him. He shut his eyes tight, but it didn't help, the pearly color burning into his retinae.

And then, suddenly, everything changed. The pain quickly left his body and his skin stopped tingling, but his eyes saw nothing but complete darkness. First, his inner ear registered that he was still standing, but losing balance. He instinctively struggled, his hooves locking themselves firm on ground, muscles in his limbs helping him recover his balance.

Next came sounds. At first muffled, but then getting louder and louder. Incomprehensible voices of guards before him. Teal behind him, struggling to stand up. Tinnitus. Nothing else.

And then his eyelids opened, allowing him to finally see where he had been teleported to. He instantly recognized that he had been there before, the statues of pegasi and unicorns near the entrance to the throne room appearing unknown at first, being seen from a different angle than before.

At the opposite end of the corridor he saw three guards, their race and their colors difficult to tell thanks to the distance between them and the disappearing darkness of the night's end, first rays of sun lazily rising on the horizon.

The instant he noticed them, they noticed him, their eyes locking on each other, and began closing in. Lanky started galloping. The first steps, he was staggered. Legs tangled, he struggled to maintain balance, woozy from the sudden teleportation. Slowly, steadily he started moving fast, towards the other end of the corridor where it forked left, right and further straight, the guards at the intersection. As he galloped, he could swear the stone eyes of the statues tracked his steps.

The guards weren't moving as fast as he had imagined them to. Instead as he came closer he began to notice their eyes. Glassy, unfocused, looking at somewhere far away, just like the two guards that were locked now in their cell. Still, they dragged along slowly, a thought reminding Lanky of his favorite zombie movies flashed in his mind.

Cross intersection. Left. Sharp turn. He brushed against one of the guards. He felt his tail slap the guard across the face as he turned. A hoof almost slipped, and he staggered, almost falling down. In the corner of his eyes he noticed Teal... "_trotting? Is he insane?"_ he thought after he recovered from the turn.

Another hall. Lanky looked forward, Four guards. It appeared that they didn't notice him, instead doing something amongst each other. "_Doesn't matter."_ Lanky was surprised when he saw one of the guards raise his hoof and smash another one straight in the face. At the same time a strange sound of something forcefully smashing against a wall reached his ears. Lanky began turning around to see what it was, but his head began hurting again, a clear sign of an incoming message from Teal.

"_Stop." _Lanky froze in place. "_Go. Ignore everything you hear behind you."_

The brown pony heeded the request-order. He looked at the other end of the corridor, where the guards were locked in one-sided battle royale with each other. A short distance away, he noticed three of them slapping the other one in the face. Lanky was able to guess the problem fairly quickly – they tried to slap the other one from the influence of the mind-control spell somepony unknown helped the duo with.

He thought about the guards he had just passed, but behind him, he heard no sound save for the rhythmical clacks of the teal pony's hooves, the frequency of steps indicating a calm walk. Lanky dared not to turn his head around.

He walked slowly to the guards. Ten meters. Five meters. Three meters. Still they didn't notice him, too busy trying to snap the, in Lanky's words, 'zombie' back to his senses. The armor they wore rattled with each slap. "What's going on? Snap out of it!" they squawked, trying their best to control the situation. The face of a reddish pegasus was bloodied a little, but his glassy-ied eyes showed no emotions. The remaining ones didn't notice him, as Lanky stood behind them, enjoying the show, carefully calculating the best course of action in avoiding being detected by them, while simultaneously listening to the sound of Teal's hoofsteps a few meters after him, which stopped abruptly. Lanky still didn't want to look around.

"_One left, now another left... does this count too?"_ he thought, as the L-shaped corridor could only go either left or back to where he came from. Slowly, carefully he circled the melee, the guards either not noticing him altogether or too busy surrealistically slapping their supposed-to-be brother in arms.

After the turn, he started walking again, as quietly as his tired body allowed, as to not to draw their attention. Two meters. Five. The corridor ended, opening to a large hall. Before Lanky could see what the chamber was, he heard a loud "STOP", the guards apparently noticing either him or Teal. But before he could do anything, before any form of non-instinctual thought began to form in his consciousness, he again heard a sound of _something_ slamming hard against the wall. He didn't want to look back, reminding himself of Teal's earlier instruction, and instead entered the large hall.

For all intents and purposes, this could be a dancing hall. Wooden floor, crystal candelabra with many half-burned candles, even a set of orchestral instruments made the intended function of the room crystal clear. There was also a statue of a unicorn, seemingly, and a set of columns that surrounded it, forming a half-circle.

But that wasn't interesting, all Lanky looked for was any signs of life. But nothing, there was nopony inside, except him and Teal doing... _something _behind him, something that Lanky was too terrified to ask thanks to that awful sound of something slamming hard against the wall.

It was possible to go farther straight and to his right. The statue and the windows behind it were on his left. Lanky struggled to listen if he could hear anything in the distance, and he had heard hoofsteps, easily discernible from Teal's. Guards. Many of them. Some conversations. Lanky could feel the cold droplets of sweat form on his body. As the adrenaline levels in his bloodstream stepped down a little thanks to the ambiance of the chamber, so did his nervousness rise. The excitement faded, replaced by a rather vivid imagery of what the guards might do to them. He began shaking.

And the eerily rhythmical hoofsteps of Teal behind him, coupled with the impossible-not-to-obey request... "_WHAT IS GOING ON?" _Lanky wondered. Another thought came to his mind, "_If it's okay with you, stop yelling..." _to which he thought back "_WHO ARE YOU? IS IT YOU TEAL? ARE YOU READING MY MIND?" _But the question went unheard and unanswered.

Ears up and wary, he got to the other end of the hall. The darkness was slowly fading away, as the first rays of sunlight appeared on the horizon, a reddish hue fighting back the blues of the night. In the middle of the room, he couldn't help but pause for a moment, his attention drawn to the beautiful, dreamlike vista beyond the windows. Quickly, he looked away, refocusing on his strange escape that felt more like something from a nightmare.

"_Straight, right, and then straight into the city... Yeah, I can see me getting through!"_ He thought, and entered a short corridor that smelled of food – a welcome change from the nauseating odors of the throne room where Luna and Celestia resided. _"Probably there's a kitchen nearby."_ He felt the pain in his stomach, a typical symptom of hunger and thirst.

Teal some distance after him, he finally arrived at the palace's vestibule. Now he understood the strange set of directions given to him by Teal. Any other directions he could have taken would position him in the direct confrontation with the guards and other ponies of Canterlot. But now, he was able to peek his head from the darkness of the side-corridor semi-safely, not being noticed by anypony.

A number of guards were waiting for them. Some with the tell-tale signs of mind control spell, the others normal, some of them trying to guess what exactly happened to the other, controlled half. The confusion in the ranks didn't help the brown stallion. "_It would be suicide,"_ he thought, the thought-process interrupted by Teal's hoofsteps quietly creeping up to him, stopping just one meter behind.

Another flash of migraine signaled that Teal wanted to say something.

"Looks like we've got a problem."

He paused for a moment, before continuing the one-sided conversation, the meekness of his telepathy not calming him at all.

"Uhm... How should we tackle that problem... Ok Lanky, I've got an idea, if it's okay with you... We run. You ready?"

Not waiting for Lanky's response, the teal-colored stranger pushed him, out of the relative safety of the darkness and into their field of vision. The heads of the royal guards in the palace's antechamber turned, their eyes focused on the brown Terran. All of them either looked confused as to what had just happened, some earth pony suddenly jumping out of a dark corridor, or had their eyes glassy.

Lanky couldn't remember later what had happened next, as it was too confusing for him.

Giving no thought, he started galloping as fast as he could towards the exit, through the crowd. The guards started shouting at him, yelling "STOP!" and "YOU'RE UNDER ARREST!" the armor-clad unicorns and pegasi brandishing their swords and polearms, but strangely enough not doing anything more than that. Instead, after the initial shock, they turned their gaze to Teal, who was now behind Lanky, the crowd ignoring the brown long-maned Terran completely. At once, they started screaming. Some tried to run, but it looked like as if something constrained them. Lanky was too terrified to look behind him, to see what exactly Teal was _doing, _but a smell of ozone, stronger than before, and the nauseating sizzling sound told him that whatever it was, it was better not to get too curious. Instead, he took the chance and ran through the gate that lead to the city of Canterlot.

A loud sound of many 'somethings' smashing against the walls reached his ears the moment a refreshing morning air reached his nostrils. Chaos after him and uncertain tranquility before him didn't allow any relaxation.

There were some guards in the distance, at the other end of the dust-path that connected the palace to the city proper. It led through the beautiful garden, many plants and colorful flowers Lanky never could've seen in Manehattan, drops of morning dew reflecting the rays of the lazily rising sun off them made for a confusing contrast between what had just happened and how calm this place appeared to be. The morning birds began chirping, somewhat reminding him of yesterday's events in Everfree, as the birds chirped there too.

At the other end of the dust-path, he noticed the guards, standing near the ornate golden metal crate gate that was now closed. In the distance, he saw them looking at him, but not coming closer, instead eyeing him warily. '_They're smart,' _thought Lanky, who now felt like he was trapped in a cage. There were guards still in the castle, the confusion slowly subsiding as the control-spells placed my the unknown somepony faded away. They would arrive there soon, and Lanky doubted that whatever Teal did to them would help him with every single one. He could hear loud orders being yelled by those back in the palace, hooves stomping in hasty, chase-like fashion.

So there he stood, surrounded by the flora, the protected gate he knew he had no chance of getting through before him, and the hoofsteps of Teal getting closer to him.

"C-can I look back?" he asked Teal, still afraid of him.

At first he wondered why he didn't feel the headache, but the realization that Teal wasn't using telepathy shocked him, as he had already gotten used to it a little.

"I... I think so," the teal pony said back, in his usual creepily calm and meek voice.

The brown stallion turned back. There was Teal. Bruised, some blood dripping off his snout, visibly tired, shaking a little in a manner he always did after using magic, but otherwise unscathed.

"M-m-may I ask you what just happened?" Lanky gasped out.

Teal looked at the ground for a moment before answering, "You don't want to know."

"Anyway, we've got a problem. We're still in trouble. Now what?" Lanky said, noticing in the distance the guards who now poured through the entrance to the palace. They were surrounded.

Teal said nothing. He closed his eyes, and the spot on his head where his horn would've been started glowing with an ambient-blue light. Again he felt as if submersed in lava. The white flash blinded him once more. Time seemed to slow down. He thought he heard somepony screaming, guards trying to reach them.

And when it all stopped, he found himself with Teal on the other side of the gate. The guards were confused, tried to open the gate, yelling orders.

"Run," Teal said, and started galloping himself. Lanky took a last sight of the spires of gaudily-colored Canterlot Palace, its ornateness visible in the glory of the morning sun, the colorful stonemasonry, balconies and windows so beautifully covering the ugly truth concealed inside, and then started galloping, following Teal's hoofsteps.

The city guard was there already, alarmed to their presence. They came from alleyways, from behind the Prussian-wall houses. Lanky felt his muscles burn. He was tired, hungry, thirsty, had almost no sleep for an unusually long time, his head was getting hazy, and the world began to spin. Teal fared better, but Lanky noticed that the stranger also was at the edge of exhaustion.

After a short gallop, they found themselves in the middle of a plaza. A few wooden benches surrounded a stone-chiseled water fountain in the middle, sculpted in a shape of a flower with water flowing off its blossom. It promised refreshment, but Lanky and Teal had other things on their minds, being surrounded, their escape seemingly a failure.

He looked around. No escape. "_It's the end."_

The unicorn and pegasus guards closed in, holding audibly sharp broadswords in their mouths. Some held chains, others nets. They focused their gazes on the duo, their emotionless '_it's nothing personal, just orders' _faces getting closer and closer. He noticed that there were some onlookers, looking through the windows of their homes, extremely curious as to what was going on.

But then, some unicorns began screaming. The swords, chains and nets fell out of their mouths, their actions indicating a powerful, extremely painful headache making them barely able to stand. Other unicorns and all the pegasi were petrified from fear.

Lanky, terrified, turned around to see Teal, but what he saw was him, rolling around on the ground, his forehooves clamping his pain-ridden head.

And then, for the third time that day, he felt as if surrounded by liquid fire. For a moment, time stopped.

Lanky already hated the unicorn teleportation and telepathy to death and wished to never experience magic again.

* * *

><p>The sudden teleportation knocked him off-balance, solid ground disappearing from under his hooves. Lanky's head smashed, face-first into the floor.<p>

"_Wooden. It's wood."_ The polished but unlaquered wood felt oddly warm on his left cheek. He smelt the film of dust covering the place, in amounts that any allergic pony would consider a murder attempt.

He blinked. He blinked again, this time holding his eyes open for a half of a second longer. He was somewhere inside... "_a house?"_ It was dark inside. He could not tell where he was in relation to the plaza from which he'd been brutally teleported, or what else was in the room. Only sources of light were single rays of sunlight that broke through the heavy curtains that veiled the place in shadows.

He heard somepony near him, a pony who was struggling to keep its balance before succumbing to the same fate as he had. A dull thump broke the silence.

"_Strange... it didn't sound like Teal... Wait. Teal was already on the ground when we were teleported."_

Another sound appeared suddenly from the other direction. Something was lying on the ground there. The thing grunted just like Teal would've.

Lanky rapidly opened his eyes, his brown irises momentarily shrinking before widening again. A deep breath escaped his throat.

"_Oh manure!"_

He struggled to stand up, succeeding after a few tries. His head and eyes hurt after the teleportation. He squinted, his eyeballs in a world of pain.

The room, or maybe apartment, was thoroughly utilitarian, no useless decorations he would've stereotypically expected from a citizen of Canterlot. Nothing else but an old couch, a single simple desk with a single unlit oil lamp, and two at first unidentified shapes lying on the floor. Upon closer inspection, he found one of these shapes to be Teal. Lanky shook the pony on the floor with his hoof, and a quiet grunt answered his nudge.

"You okay, Teal?" he asked,

Teal responded with a quiet "Yes, I'm okay, in a moment... uugh."

He observed as Teal rose up, back on his hooves, before looking at the other pony who occupied the place.

He immediately recognized the young mare. An all-violet body, coat and tail. Unicorn.

"_That damn mark, a tree on her flank! Who is she?"_

He jumped away from her.

"_It's her! She's the one who brought that death sentence to the court!"_ Anger slowly rose up in him. He eyed her again, and his anger dropped instantly. She looked completely innocent, and on top of that, it was visible she was exhausted and in pain. Her coat glistened from sweat. He touched her head – she was burning hot.

Lanky used the last ounces of his strength to raise her limp body up from the floor to the soft couch.

After taking care of the problem at hoof, Lanky looked around the apartment. He saw a few new things he hadn't seen on his first glance. A wooden staircase leading up, and then another pair of doors leading to the back of the housing.

Teal came close to him, and observed the mare on the couch. He mumbled something to himself.

"What? Do you know her? No, better question, do you know what just happened? I mean, we were in Canterlot, surrounded, and then-"

Teal interrupted him. "It's her."

"Huh?"

"She helped us back in the castle. She teleported us here. Her spells have the same magi-signature as the one that I felt back in the dungeon, so it's her."

He extended his left foreleg and shook her body. She shifted and grunted.

"Why? Do you know her? Do you know why she helped us?" Lanky asked, excitement rising with his each word.

"I don't know _who_ she is, but I know _what_ she is and I know _why _she risked her life helping us-"

"So tell me!" Lanky almost shouted it out.

"Not yet. I've got to get a few answers out of her before I tell you anything."

Teal lowered his head, touching her belly with the stump on his forehead. Lanky considered it to be somewhat kinky.

"She drugged herself with painkillers and stimulants, otherwise the amount of magic she had used would've killed her. As much as I understand Manehattanites, and Terrans in general, you could say that she's 'high' or something like that. I'll have to purge it from her bloodstream. Go through the house, avoid the windows, try to find some water, a bucket preferably, and grab some grub from that backpack of yours, I'm hungry. And hurry, the guard will start searching through the houses soon. By the way, she's a smart one, she used a 'blink', an M-blinding spell before teleporting us, so that the few unicorns who are even capable of using magic would have problems finding the teleport's exit coordinates, but that gives us just a little time. That's why those other unicorns and I began screaming before the teleport, if you're wondering. Anyway, hurry."

Lanky tilted his head, confused by Teal's magibabble. "What?"

"Just do it," Teal responded, his voice meek as usual but with a subtle hint of shut-up-and-do-it, "...uhm, please."

Lanky shook his head and started rummaging throughout the apartment while the familiar smell of ozone again appeared in the air, Teal using magic to cure the mare.

Upstairs he found a sleeping room, as empty and utilitarian as the rest of the house, and a single bathroom with a shower, sink, and a storage closet with cleaning supplies. He grabbed an old, rusty metal bucket and poured some water from the shower. He took it downstairs, where Teal was still doing his magics, the mare's body squirming a little from pain.

The glow of magic faded away as Teal took his head off the sweat-covered violet mare.

"Put that bucket down near me."

Lanky obeyed the order. Teal promptly submerged his head in the water, splashing some on the floor near him.

"Feels good... Ugh, my head hurts... Drink some, Lanky, and then pour it on her. We've got to wash her up. I've purged the drugs via her sweat."

Lanky drank a few gulps from the bucket, too thirsty to care about the fact that Teal had just washed his head with it, and then went upstairs again to refill the container. Thanks to exhaustion, he found it problematic to drag her limp body back to the floor off the couch, because he didn't want to get it the couch wet. He put her down on the wooden floor, and then took the bucket and spilled the cold liquid on her body.

The shock helped. She shook once, started coughing, and opened her eyes. He dragged her back to the couch after wiping her with a white towel taken from the upstairs bathroom.

She appeared to feel better. Her headache and exhaustion was, however, still visible, but at least she appeared to be a little bit more communicative.

"Ok, Lanky, grab some food. It feels like we'll have a lot to talk about."

Lanky took some hard tack from his backpack, and shared it with Teal, who began munching the food with a barely-constrained fervor. The dry food was hard to swallow, and Lanky had to help himself with the water from the bucket, the taste of rust pronounced strongly in the liquid. Teal helped himself with the water, too.

"Okay, Lanky, please, don't ask too much before I get a clear sight of situation myself, please," he said, shook the mare again and started talking to her. "Uhm, please, tell me, if it's okay with you... Are you a Cutie Mark Crusader?"

The mare giggled weakly, as much as her extremely weakened body allowed.

Teal continued. "I guessed it... Nowadays only Cutie Mark Crusaders can acquire genuine cutie marks... It's not as if otherponies even know what a cutie mark is... Okay, Crusader, state your name, rank, and the purpose of your mission... please?"

The mare giggled quietly again. She kept her eyes closed, and only the silent laugher even showed she was conscious.

"Oh, right, sorry, I forgot," Teal said, " the call sign, 'throughout the darkness of the long night we search for the purpose', that's how it went?"

The violet mare smiled before responding in a quiet, delicate, but somewhat raspy voice. She kept her eyelids shut.

"Yes, you've got it right. But you're no Crusader, you don't even have any right to ever utter the phrase."

"What's a Cutie Mark Crusader?" Lanky asked, only to be completely ignored.

"Whatever," Teal spoke to the mysterious mare, "According to your nomenclature, we both are now Cutie Mark Crusaders, just like you. Now, tell me."

"Am I? What's a Cutie Mark Crusader, anyway?" wondered Lanky aloud, only for his voice to pass unnoticed.

"Zealot Tree Root. We won't tell you what our mission is. But you're smart, you should know."

"What's a zealot, Teal?" And again, Lanky was ignored.

"Have things gone so bad that you're sending zealots after me?"

"What?" Teal's and Tree Root's reaction wasn't hard to guess.

"No, no," she said, "I simply was nearby. That's all."

Teal closed his eyes, sat on his haunches and began massaging his temples, "So, uhm, please... could you tell me what was I doing?"

Tree Root's voice went a few decibels up. "You don't know! Ha ha ha ha, whatever happened to you?"

Lanky asked something, but nopony else cared.

Teal grinned in a it-hurts kind of a way, "I... I think I'm losing a battle against the parasite in my head..."

"We guessed it. For the past five months, your movements have been erratic. You never made any mistakes... And then you started slipping. Cutie Mark Crusaders started following your steps. Beautiful, isn't it?"

Lanky's teeth gritted. His nerves were practically boiling. He couldn't stand being ignored.

Teal didn't notice his companion's anger, still focused on Tree Root. "So, uhm, could you please tell me at least my name-"

"No. We won't tell you. We know, and that's all you need to know..."

"Uhm, he's calling me Teal... So, if you'd like, please call me like that," Teal said, pointing his hoof at Lanky.

Tree Root giggled again and half-opened her eyes, the lower half of her green irises visible. "Did you tell him anything? He should know what really happened way back there, back in the forest-"

"What? What do you know about me? Who are you?" Lanky was barely keeping his emotions in check. He was already shaking from anger.

The mare turned her head from Teal to Lanky.

"Let's say, Lanky, that we now know almost everything about you. Who are you. Your background. Your education. Your job-"

Lanky exploded.

"WHAT IS GOING ON! TEAL! Explain everything to me! I'm literally _**SICK**_ of you and your games! You say you don't remember anything, but you know so much! TELL ME EVERYTHING I NEED TO KNOW!"

"Tell him," said Tree Root, "He deserves to know what happened back in Everfree-"

"I DESERVE TO KNOW WHAT?"

Teal began speaking.

"Okay, Lanky, uhm... It looks like I'll have to break the bad news to you... What you've found is a very special thing... What you've found is called a Particle of Harmony. Those are the parts, fragments of the so-called Elements of Harmony. From what I've been able to te-"

"Yeah, right, as if I believe you! You and your... magic," - Lanky scowled when saying the dreadful word - "What a joke. It's simply a crazy dream and I'm going to wake up back in Everfree, back at the camp, with my friends, and see that it was all but a crazy, idiotic dream! There's no magic, it never-"

"Okay, Lanky, let's try this one," Teal interrupted, his tranquil voice overcoming the rage seeping from the brown earth pony, "I'll say a few names. Tell me which one sounds the most familiar to you... Twilight Sparkle?"

Lanky shook his head. "Well, she was in that letter I've read, but no, it's not that-"

"Pinkie Pie?"

"Uhm, you talking about that Pinkamena Diane Pie in the letter? Rings a few bells but-"

"Rainbow Dash? Rarity? Applejack?"

"No, no, and nope."

"Flutter-"

"-shy?"

Lanky went quiet after finishing the teal unicorn's sentence. Thoughts in his mind raced, but all of them chaotic, unordered and without purpose. In the corner of his eyes, standing behind the two unicorns, he noticed a butter-yellow pegasus looking at him, her pink mane covering half of her face. He saw her as if through a heavy fog layer, his eyes unable to focus on her. Excluding the oddity of the whole situation, the fact that her pegasus wings appeared as if made of shiny, steel-like metal only unnerved him more. He blinked, and she disappeared. His disregulated vision focused back at Teal and Tree Root. Both were looking at him quizzically, Teal's eyes wide open and the mare's half-closed as usual.

"Yes, yes, it was her! I know that name! But I don't know why..."

Teal tilted his head. "Uhm... Lanky? Is everything okay with you? You look like as if you've seen a ghost-"

"I-I-I did see a ghost! Just now!"

Teal's face immediately saddened. "Could you tell me, please, what did Fluttershy look like? Anything peculiar? When did you see her?"

"Well... I saw see her just now... She was looking at me, standing behind you," he pointed the hoof at the wooden floor behind the duo.

"Ok, was it the first time she appeared? Or did you see her before?"

"Uhmm... Teal? When we were reading that letter I've found? The smaller one? I saw her! Well, I think it was her, but it's strange, her wings looked unnatural-"

"Ok, Lanky, serious question. What did you feel yesterday, erm, I mean, today?. When were you reading that letter?"

"What? Well... I was afraid. I don't know why, but I was afraid of her!"

"And now?"

"Nothing. She just stood there. I didn't feel anything... I think-"

"Okay, Lanky, what I'll tell you now will probably sound weird to you," Teal said, his voice rather low, "but you've got a parasite in you head. A mental parasite, not a real one. Her name's Fluttershy. What you felt today's night wasn't fear, it was something else. It was an attack. She was attacking you, trying to find any openings in your mental defence-"

"Yeah, right," the brown pony snorted, still not convinced that it wasn't a dream, "What else?"

"Teal's right, Lanky," said the mare who was still lying on the couch, until now not participating much in the discussion, her voice still weak, "You've got a parasite in your brain. From your description, we can guess the Particle of Harmony you've found was a part of the Element of Kindness. To be honest, Cutie Mark Crusaders guessed that right away, the very moment we detected the shockwave when you became Aligned to the element-"

"So, yeah, it's just a dream and I'm going to wake up soon. What else can you tell me? Entertain me, please!" Lanky let out a laugh, quite an eerie one.

"Ok, Lanky," Teal continued the discussion, "this is no laughing matter. Listen up. Fluttershy is currently dormant. She'll try to appear in your field of vision, try to make herself visible. Ignore her, don't look at her, it means she's trying to find any holes in your mental walls." - Lanky snorted at that remark - "It'll be like that for some time. But this doesn't matter. Now, Lanky, listen and hear me well. She'll start appearing in your dreams-"

"So what," asked Lanky with an audible hint of sarcasm, "I do like _dreaming_ about beautiful mares, if you know what I mea-"

"So when she appears in your dream," Teal said, his voice rather nervous, "Attack her. Buck Fluttershy hard in her face. Smash a hoof in her snout. Break her ribs. Whatever works."

Lanky was too shocked to say anything. Tree Root looked pretty disinterested, her eyes closed and still lying on the couch. Teal was looking at the floor, passively averting Lanky's gaze.

"I know what I'm talking about, Lanky. I didn't attack her enough, I was too weak. Now I'm losing the battle. She's slowly overtaking my mind. She has already overwritten my behavioral patterns. You really think my meekness, my 'if it's okay with you' attitude is really me? It isn't. It's her, not me. And the problem is, I have it worse than you. I'm aligned to two Particles of Harmony. I have two parasites in my head, Fluttershy and Twilight Sparkle. It's a miracle that Twilight Sparkle is not as aggressive as Fluttershy, she's dormant, otherwise-"

*Knock* *knock* Somepony was knocking on the doors to the apartment. Lanky's ears registered another ominous sound – a clank of armor.

"Manure," swore Tree Root, her green eyes fully opening up again, "the guards have already found us."

The knocks became louder. A loud, deep "Open up! We're looking for fugitives pursued by the law!" was heard. Something began banging on the door. Lanky recognized the sound as that of a metal ram. The guards were trying to smash through the doors, but the closed entrance seemed to hold. Lanky was surprised how durable the wooden doors appeared to be.

"Okay, here's the plan. The doors are reinforced. They will keep them outside for a minute," spoke the violet mare hastily, "but we've gotta run. I can't gallop. I'm too tired-"

"Lanky... could you, uhm, please grab her on your back-"

"What?"

"-I might hate the crusaders to death, but I'll not let her die there. Not without giving me the information I need."

Lanky again found it impossible to disobey the request. A small part of his brain wondered as to why was he was doing everything the teal pony asked him for, but the rest of his mind shut the rebellious parts off. He found her limp, now lifeless body to be surprisingly heavy.

"Okay," Teal spoke, "I'll use magic to knock them back. Now listen, Lanky. I don't know where we are, and as it appears, that damn crusader has already passed out from exhaustion, but we should go find a river. There's a stream passing through the city, and there's a waterfall. We have to jump off the waterfall-"

"What?"

"Okay, Lanky, doors won't hold for much longer. Prepare to run..."

Both waited eagerly. The seconds appeared to stretch to hours. And then splinters began flying. The force of a ram, held by two strong pegasus guards, blew the door off its hinges.

It all happened so fast Lanky barely heard the sizzling and smelled the ozone as the glow on Teal's stump flashed for a second. A pack of guards was blown of its hooves, the five armor-clad warriors of Luna's Domain hit by an invisible gust of wind.

The lucid headache again hit Lanky. "After me!"

Teal started galloping, rather slowly compared to what he normally could do, and Lanky followed, slowed down by Tree Root's body hanging off his back.

Outside, they found themselves in an alleyway. The shadows made by the buildings blocking the rising sun covered the road, making the chilly breeze of morning even colder. Their hooves clacked loudly on the stone brickwork of Canterlot City's roads, the arrhythmical sound bringing to them the attention of unicorn and pegasi citizens of Canterlot, who, already drawn to their windows by the earlier ruckus, observed their haphazard escape, no less confused than the brown earth pony who still wasn't comprehending the situation he had found himself in, many questions mixing in his mind with the quest for the most basic thing, a simple survival.

The alleyway ended, and the brown pony noticed that they were back at the plaza from which they were teleported. The circular place surrounding the fountain had six roads, other alleys coming off the center in a regular, spokes-in-a-wheel layout. Teal galloped to the next one to their left, entering another shadowed alley between the Prussian-wall houses of Canterlot. Lanky followed him, noticing the city guards coming in their direction.

To the brown earth pony, the alleyway appeared to be the same as the one they found themselves when exiting from Tree Root's house, but there was a small difference. Midway, there was a stone bridge with a very low railing, a small construction crossing a stream. The crystal-clear water flowed rapidly through a small channel, falling off a cliff a few hundred meters downstream. It was that moment that Lanky remembered that Canterlot was called 'The city on the hill', and it lived up to its name – a plateau on a mountain, the majority of the settlement located on level ground, the castle itself on a slope, and such a geological oddity as a sudden cliff was to be expected.

The three cantered across the bridge, only to notice that both exits were blocked. Behind them, the guards already chased, the distance between them decreasing each second. And in front of them, various armor-clad pegasi and unicorns marched rhythmically, cutting their way out.

Lanky began sweating as he felt something getting stuck in his throat. Fear, exhaustion – the dryness in his throat made him realize just how hopeless the situation was. He wanted to believe it was all but a dream, but that moment made him know that it was real, that he wasn't sleeping, that it all was really happening.

The guards began shouting, their loud "Halt! In the name of Queen Luna and Princess Celestia, stop!" bringing the attention of the citizens, who were now looking at the brown earth pony and the violet unicorn mare that was lying on his back, and what appeared to them to be another Terran, a teal-colored stallion. Through the windows, hooves pulling back curtains to allow various civilian unicorns and pegasi to observe, the multitude of eyes, some curious, some annoyed, bore through Lanky's soul. Not only was he the center of attention, he felt like everypony's eyes bore through his soul.

The train of thoughts was interrupted again by Teal's telepathy, the lucid pain annoying him even more.

"Okay, Lanky, we're surrounded. I'm too tired to teleport three of us. There's only one way out. The stream. There's a waterfall downstream. I can use magic to slow our fall. There are no rocks down there, so it's safe. You ready?"

"This is buckin' crazy!"

"And that's why it's going to work," replied Teal in his mind.

The guards came closer and closer. Just a few meters, and they would be captured.

"Teal?" Lanky said out loud enough for Teal and only Teal to hear.

"Yes, Lanky?"

"...I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship," Lanky said, smiling in the faces of the guards, whose mouths went agape as Teal and Lanky with an impromptu passenger jumped off the bridge, into the stream below.

The rapid stream that flew in a stone-bricked channel between Canterlot's buildings carried them quickly to the tall cliffside, where the waterfall dropped into the grand below...

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Author's notes: WHOA! Seriously. The moment the story had been posted to EQD, my inbox started to fill with messages that " 'insert a nickname here' tracked my story "

Thank you. Thank every single one of you who've tracked, commented, rated or even read the fanfic. It makes writing this story worthwhile for me.

Thanks to Drakmire, who've pointed out a few jarring errors in the prologue. It saddens me greatly that he stopped reading after that chapter, but still, I'm grateful for his help and the points he had made in a PW he had sent me. I'm going to heed his advice.

And to Periphery who proofreaded that chapter: Thank You!

Next chapter will be written when it'll be written. No guesstimate, no ETA. It's done when it's done :P

...One question though: What's the correct form? I've found that both forms are used in fanfiction, but it's obvious to me that only one form is correct while other is not.

"pegasi" or "Pegasi"?

"Manehattan" or "Manehatten"?


End file.
